


Tangled Webs

by Tobi_Boone



Category: The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: Dominance, Kidnapping, Light Bondage, M/M, etc. it's vemon we're talking here, non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-07-23
Packaged: 2018-03-20 15:25:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 36,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3655356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tobi_Boone/pseuds/Tobi_Boone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Awful title? Check.</p><p>Venom has plans for Spiderman, unfortunately it is recovering so Eddie, struggling with his split personality, is left to do the literal dirty work. </p><p>You see the tags, stay off my lawn if you don't want to read any of that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kidnap the Spidey with my Claws!

**Author's Note:**

> So, Eddie, you're straight right?
> 
> Right.
> 
> Just a something I got a hankerin' for and decided to do. Almost exclusively from Eddie/Venom's POV, okay? Okay, let's have some fun!  
> And aren't I creative with the chapter name?? Aren't I?? Yeah, that kind of thing won't happen twice, I'm sure.

 

            Eddie Brock woke up on the floor, naked and disorientated, he sat up slowly and shook his head,

            “Where are we?” He seemingly asked the empty room.

            _Sssomewhere sssafe_.

            Eddie didn’t seem the least bit surprised by the voice in his head, he actually hadn’t been in some time. He glanced around and sighed,

            “Dunno, it’s a little . . . cold.” Eddie murmured, the building he was sitting in was abandoned it would seem as the walls were crumbling and there was a space for a window with only a few pieces of wood hinting that there was one there at one time.

            There was a silence then Eddie grimaced as something slithered over his skin, he looked down and saw his arms up to his bicep and hands were covered in the snug, stretchy substance that the symbiote Venom was made out of. He was about to comment when more of the stuff manifested over his legs, groin and halfway up his stomach.

            _Better?_

            “ . . . We suppose,” Eddie sighed, hugging himself, “Any reason why we’re here then?”

            _We must ressst, the ssspider wounded usss._

            Eddie huffed in agitation, “We think us wandering around naked is better cover? A little aforethought next time, Sticky.”

            He felt Venom’s agitation and the protective layer of the symbiote on his body tightened slightly,

            “Alright, alright . . . “ Eddie huffed and closed his eyes before standing and assessing the new ‘lair’.

            It was as barren as he feared with maybe a few pieces of decrepit furniture that were either broken beyond use or really dirty. There was a bathroom but Eddie didn’t really have to worry about that since he didn’t go anymore anyway, Venom fed them both and took care of everything else so Eddie didn’t have to bother with it, what did cause the blonde to pause was the mirror.

            He stopped and looked at himself, hardly recognizing his own features and even Venom seemed to stir in his consciousness in curiosity. Eddie touched his face and then opened his mouth, he had two rows of jagged, crooked teeth and his eyes had gone from blue to almost white, he looked very much like Venom if he squinted enough and that idea made him shiver.

            “ . . . Fuck.” Eddie mumbled, staring down at the clawed hand he held up for examination.

            While it wasn’t totally unpleasant to be pretty much ruled by the symbiote, it wasn’t a whole lot of fun sometimes either. Eddie’s mind had melded with Vemon’s so now he couldn’t think or feel anything without the alien being attuned to it and vice versa. It was sometimes difficult to distinguish where Eddie ended and Venom began. He shivered again and swallowed,

            _We are not cold, why does it tremble?_

“I got the willies, alright?” Eddie murmured, “So we’re just supposed to stay here and lay low?”

            _Yes._

            “But . . . like this we gotta eat, don’t we?”

            _. . . yes. We did not think this through._

“Apparently.” Eddie sighed, “We’ll need clothes then, don’t think we’d get away with running about naked.”

            _. . . No. Humansss are ssstrange that way._

“Says us.” Eddie mumbled, “Alright then, let’s get something in the works here . . . “

* * *

            After several hours Eddie was able to locate one of those bins the Salvation Army or whatever uses for clothing donations and was able to dig out a pair of old Levi’s that weren’t too worn, a black zip-up hoodie, and some sneakers and socks. No skivvies but that wasn’t really too much of an issue as Venom kept their junk nice and snug. Eddie got dressed quickly and hurried out onto the street, shoving his hands in his pockets and tugging the hood up over his head,

            “We’ll need somewhere else to stay too.”

            _Why? Wasss that placcce not acccceptable?_

“Alright, maybe not somewhere else just . . . need something for us to be more comfortable.” Eddie conceded, “Some blankets or something to make us a nest.”

            _We understand._

            “Atta boy,” Eddie murmured, hurrying as quickly through the crowd as he could.

* * *

            Eddie nudged the pillows and blankets they’d swiped and then huffed, curling up tightly in a ball and sighing,

            “How long are we going to be out of commission?”

            _We are not cccertain, the ssspider wasss difficult._

“Why are we so obsessed with him? I know I hate him but . . . what about the rest of us?” Eddie mumbled, shifting to be more comfortable.

            Venom took a long time to reply and there were several different emotions that washed through their mental link then Eddie sat up,

            “You’ve _got_ to be kidding me! Is that what you want? To _mate_ with _him_?”

            Venom seemed to mentally shift and then growled in response.

            Eddie groaned, “Why couldn’t we pick a nice, blonde girl? Why him?”

            Venom snorted, _Human femalesss would not sssurvive the mating and the ssspider isss ssstronger than mossst._

“But,” Eddie fidgeted and swallowed, “But I don’t like guys.”

            _What it wantsss isss not our concccern, we mussst breed._

“Don’t I get a say in this? I thought we were a team . . . sort of.” Eddie sat back against the wall in his corner of the room he’d chosen.

            _No._

            “But . . . “ Eddie was quiet for a moment then he sighed, “So, if we make Spiderman our mate . . . What does that mean for us?”

            _Offssspring._

“More little Venoms running around? Lovely.” Eddie sighed, he’d liked being one of the only symbiotes on the block and Carnage was not the best example of what to expect.

            _They would join with usss, increasssing our power and . . . and we would not be ssso alone._

Eddie blinked and pulled a blanket around his shoulders, Venom often would convey loneliness despite Eddie being _right here_ and it hurt. He knew that Venom missed its homeworld and its own kind but . . .

            “Gee whiz, thanks.” Eddie murmured.

            _It isss upssset with usss now? Jealousss? Why? We adore our hossst . . . you know thisss._

Eddie shifted, “Well, yeah, we know . . . I-I mean _, I_ know. It’s just . . . “

            He sighed heavily and stopped trying to use words, choosing instead to sink into their mental link, it was easier this way seeing as Venom understood emotions and feelings more than it did words. There was a quiet in his head while he pushed his thoughts into the forefront and Venom quietly waited then it snarled,

            _Ssstop thisss._

Eddie blinked and shifted again, “What’s wrong now?”

            _It isss not helping our problem._

“Well, what do we want to do about it then?” Eddie sighed, shivering a little in the cold.

            _Kidnap the ssspider._

Eddie’s eyes widened and he stood up, pacing frantically, “Kidnap him? What? How do you suggest we do that? He isn’t exactly easy to take out and you’re not feeling up to it. Leaves us at a disadvantage.”

            _. . . true, but it is sssmart, yesss? It can figure sssomething out._

“Venom, he could seriously hurt us, er, me. I-“

            _We would protect hossst, not let it come to harm._

“How?”

            _Protecting it from cold now, aren’t we?_

Eddie pulled his hand up to look at the slightly sticky, skin-tight covering the symbiote had provided.

            “Are we sure about this?” Eddie murmured, feeling the much thinner than usual stuff spreading over his chest and stomach and back.

            _Yes, we are sssure . . . be careful though . . . not asss ssstrong_

“I can feel that. Any suggestions as to how we should kidnap the sp-, uh, Parker.” Eddie leaned out the window slightly.

            _. . . no._

“Well we’re a _lot_ of help aren’t we?” Eddie grumbled and leapt out the window, clinging to the wall and climbing instead of wasting web or trying to use his tentacles as Venom protested even using the ability to wall-crawl.

            Venom hissed and whined as it was strained,

            _It isss pussshing our limit!_

“Sorry, sorry,” Eddie grimaced, “I’ll try to hurry.”

            He scrambled down the wall and into an alleyway, pulling his hood up and hurrying down the street, he wasn’t quite sure how to find Parker but well . . . if New York  kept to its normal self, there’d be a crime somewhere and where there was crime, there was sure to be some spandexed fool chasing them. And since petty crime was beneath big heroes, like the Avengers or the FF, then it was sure to be their Spiderman.

* * *

            Sure as apple pie and baseball give Captain America a boner, Spiderman was soon within sight chasing some run-of-the-mill idiots that held-up some convenience store. Eddie quickly trailed after them and leaned back in the shadows while Parker beat the snot out of today’s common scum.

            Eddie couldn’t help but smile as he watched their spider until the last baddie fell with a well-aimed right cross to the jaw, the red-and-blue clad cutie was about to swing off but Eddie stepped out from the shadows, clapping lightly,

            “Great show, we were on the edge of our seats.”

            Parker’s head snapped around and his eyes might have widened but his mask made it difficult to tell. Venom practically purred,

            _Do it now!_

            “Hush.” Eddie murmured, stepping closer.

            “Sorry, pal, I only give autographs to little kids and old ladies.” Parker said, lifting his hand a little as he prepared to swing off.

            “But, baby, we’re you’re biggest fan.” Eddie let his hood fall back and smiled toothily.

            “Brock? Oh, shi-“ Spiderman leaped to one side only for Eddie to grab him and throw him against a wall.

            Venom growled at their spider being manhandled, but didn’t stop Eddie while the blonde slammed Spiderman back and forth by his arm until he felt the joint give with a sickening pop. Peter cried out in agony then passed out. Eddie smirked,

            “Alright, that was easy.” He hefted Peter up onto his shoulder, patting his tight little backside before scurrying up a building just as sirens could be heard.

* * *

 

              _You damaged him!_

“Like we had a choice.” Eddie murmured, pulling Peter’s mask and shirt off carefully.

            _You could have just-_

“Venom, shut the fuck up!” Eddie snapped, glancing over his shoulder as if he expected to see the symbiote behind him.

            Venom grumbled and hissed irritably but did not comment further. Eddie huffed, pulling off the sweatshirt and chucking it onto their nest. The symbiote had pulled back to just covering him where he needed it and seemed to be sulking as Eddie made sure to restrain Parker by a chain he’d swiped wrapped around one ankle.

            Eddie sat back tiredly, his stomach grumbling loudly and he remembered he hadn’t eaten in some time, he reached into Peter’s backpocket and pulled out the little brunette’s wallet,

            “Well, you won’t mind if we borrow a few bucks for takeout, do ya, Petey?”

            There was no response.

            Eddie smiled, his lips pulling back over his fangs and reached over to stroke his fingers slowly over the unconscious Peter’s cheek,

            “Our sssweet little ssspider.”

           


	2. Torn Apart. Literally.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie manages to kidnap Peter only for Venom to do a 180 on him.

            Eddie sat munching away on some french fries when Parker finally came around, he glanced in the little hero’s direction,

            “Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.” He muttered around a mouthful of potato-mash.

            Peter sat up slowly and looked around in confusion, “Where . . . Eddie?”

            “Here and yes.” Eddie shrugged and waved a fry in Peter’s face, “Sodium and trans fat or are you on a diet?”

            Peter blinked in confusion, “What’s going on?”

            “I’m eating and offering you some of my food and since you technically bought it, I guess it was only right to give you some but if you don’t want any-“

            “Wait, _I_ bought the food??” Peter reached for his wallet and came up with nothing, “Eddie, what did you-“

            “A game of interruptions.” Eddie laughed.

            “I’m not-“

            “Beep!” Eddie grinned.

            “Eddie, I swear to-“

            “Beep!”

            “Stop-“

            “Beep!”

            “-ing me!” Peter shouted and was about to lunge for Eddie when his shoulder twinged, “Ah! What did you do?”

            “I tossed you around like a ragdoll and your shoulder went ‘pop’, that answer your question?” Eddie shrugged and went back to eating, “I was going to wait until you woke up to put it back in joint because doing it while you were in dreamland would  _not_ have been the gentlemanly thing to do when courting.”

            Peter’s eyes narrowed and he blinked a few times, “ . . . _courting_?”

            “Courting. Adverb derived from the word ‘court’; as in ‘to court’. The act in which one tries to pay special attentions to another in the attempt to garner favor and/or affection.” Eddie looked up from unwrapping another burger, “Clear enough for you, point-dexter?”

            “ . . . you kidnapped me in order to try and _date_ me?” Peter shifted indignantly, grimacing when his arm twinged again and he looked down at the chain around his ankle, “Wow, real classy Ed.”

            Eddie sighed, “It was Venom’s idea not mine. And the chain in a necessary evil, wouldn’t want you running off when we were so nice as to bring you here.”

            “Why does Venom want to date me?” Peter demanded, sitting up more and glancing around the room, probably looking for means of escape.

            “Mate you, not date you.” Eddie explained.

            “What??” Peter’s eyes widened and he almost made it to his feet before the sudden motion caused him to stumble, probably due the head injury he most likely had.

            Eddie was quiet as he continued eating, he wasn’t overly fond of the idea himself really, sure, Peter was a nerdy, naïve kind of cute but Eddie Brock wasn’t about to leap off the T and A bandwagon any time soon.

            _No choiccce, we want to breed._

“We know, Sticky, we get it.” Eddie muttered, glancing at Peter who seemed a little frantic and possibly sick, his wide brown eyes snapping from the window to the other doors and broken walls then back to Eddie.

            “ . . . and you’re just going to go along with it?” Peter was shaking slightly, no surprise there, he was either in agony from his arm or cold thanks to the breezy interior and he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

            Eddie shrugged, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Venom wants it so we want it too. It will make it happy. Therefore it will make us happy.”

            Peter swallowed audibly, “You’re insane.”

            Eddie shrugged again, “Maybe. Burger?”

            Peter stared at the half-eaten burger Eddie held out to him, it was far enough away that he would have to crawl to get it and therein get closer to the blonde.

            _He isss not ssstupid. He will not take bait._

Eddie rolled his eyes, “He’s hungry, alright? He’ll take what he’s offered or get nothing. His choice.”

            Peter stared at Eddie, “Are you . . . are you talking to Venom?”

            Eddie blinked, “Might as well be talking to myself but yes.”

            “Where is it?” Peter glanced around at the many shadowy corners.

            “Resting. Now do you want the burger or not?” Eddie waved the still steaming burger out and watched Peter lick his lips.

            Peter slowly, carefully made his way across the floor, it was difficult with one leg chained up and his arm dangling uselessly at his side but he managed to make it a few feet from Eddie and extended his good arm for the food.

            Eddie smiled and dropped the partially unwrapped burger into Peter’s waiting hand, “Eat then we’ll fix your arm.”

            “why are you doing this?” Peter asked quietly around his food.

            Eddie sighed, “We explained this, Venom wants you so here you are. I’m not overly fond of you . . . but we need you.”

            “Why me?” Peter asked, finishing the food quickly and trying to retreat to his corner only for Eddie to snatch his good arm and pull him close.

            “Why not you?”

            They stared into each other’s eyes until Peter looked away to stare out the window,

            “You could let me go. Venom isn’t here, is he? If you let me go before he gets back he’ll never know and-“

            “You think it doesn’t know? That it isn’t watching you right now, hungering for your flesh?” Eddie laughed and stood, pulling Peter with him, bringing the smaller young man close, “You think it can’t hear us? Feel us? It’s watching you right now, licking its lips in anticipation of ripping you apart.”

            Peter’s eyes widened and he winced, “Eddie, my arm, you’re hurting me.”

            Eddie’s eyes narrowed and he reached down, grabbing Peter’s elbow and jerking it out quickly to a sickening shifting of bone on bone and with a howl of pain, Peter’s shoulder went back into joint. He gasped, shivering against Eddie’s chest when the blonde finally let go of his arm.

            “Ah . . . ah . . . “ Peter bit his lip and closed his eyes tightly, “Ngh . . . “

            Eddie let go of Peter, shoving him to the floor angrily, “Shut up. I don’t want you here anymore than you want to be here.”

            _Sssilence! Go no further!_

“Why not?” Eddie demanded angrily, pacing while throwing frequent, angry glares in Peter’s direction, sneering while the younger man snuffled in pain, “Look at him! This isn’t what we want, is it? I don’t want it!”

            _We do not care what it wantsss. Hossst will behave and do asss told._

“Shut up already!” Eddie threw a balled up bit of trash at Peter and continued to pace, “I don’t want it! It isn’t fair!”

            Peter stared at Eddie wide-eyed while he clutched his shoulder, Eddie turned and looked down at him,

            “The fuck you looking at?”

            _Hossst will not ssspeak to mate that way!_

            “Fuck off, Venom, I don’t want him!” Eddie snapped and hit a wall, making it crumble a bit then groan when he saw blood where his knuckles had scraped the wall, Venom had retracted the instant Eddie’s temper had decided that hitting the wall was a good idea.

            Peter had slowly been inching toward the window, thinking he was being sneaky but Eddie wasn’t stupid and neither was Venom. Eddie leaped in front of the window, glaring down at Peter,

            “Going somewhere?”

            Peter shuddered and licked his lips, “I-“

            “We don’t think so.” Eddie shifted down to squat in front of Peter, “Apparently we want to mate with you. Now.”

            Peter’s eyes flew open and he backed up until he felt the cold drywall behind him. Eddie reached for him only to stop in confusion,

            “What is that?” he asked softly, feeling a shift inside him.

            _Preparing the eggs._

“Preparing the- What? I thought you wanted to breed Spiderdick, not me!” Eddie scooted back, gripping his stomach and convulsing, “Venom, what are you doing to us?”

            _Husssh hossst, the ssspider will breed with you. It will have no choiccce._

Eddie was about to yell angrily when he felt the symbiote shift off of him and onto the floor. Eddie gasped at the sudden loss of contact both physically and mentally as Venom severed the connection to make its way toward Peter.

            Eddie didn’t pay attention as Peter struggled and fought against his sticky assailant, but luckily Parker was still weak from his head injury and his shoulder probably still hurt enough that despite its weakened state, Venom could still easily over power the little hero.

            The blonde didn’t care. He felt empty, hollow inside his mind when he couldn’t feel the symbiote there, he felt cold and small without Venom covering him and protecting him. He gasped and sobbed in confusion, he wasn’t ‘we’ or ‘us’ anymore, he was just Eddie, just plain Eddie Brock with messed up teeth and freaky eyes and it _burned_. He couldn’t understand why he was being so thoroughly abandoned until he looked over his shoulder and at Peter. Eddie’s hatred flared even brighter when he saw Venom covering the struggling boy, had Venom grown weary of Eddie and decided to instead inhabit its preferred mate? It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t-

            “Venom . . . “ Eddie croaked, shifting despite the agony in his guts, “Why- . . . ?”

            Venom only replied with a hum as it engulfed Peter.

            Eddie sat up, sobbing uncontrollably, “No! No, he can’t-“

            “Husssh.” Venom hissed, moving forward only to be stopped by the chain, it glanced irritably over its shoulder then huffed and yanked the chain apart with one good tug. It then turned and moved toward Eddie, “Hossst, husssh, Eddie, sssh sssh.”

            Eddie moaned in sorrow and covered his face, “ . . . why?”

            “To breed.” Venom murmured, nuzzling Eddie’s shoulder and purring, “With you.”

            Eddie’s head snapped up, “W-With me? What?”

            “We trussst it, trussst Eddie. Not our little ssspider. You will carry our young. Yesss.” Venom tilted its head and grinned, it was really strange seeing Venom looking so much smaller and less . . . toothy.

            Eddie blinked then shook his head frantically, “Oh, no, no way! You’re not impregnating this bod! Nu-uh!” He tried to scramble away but Venom was faster, tangling its claws in his hair and pulling him back, “Venom, no!”

            “It will ssstop ssstruggling now. We don’t want to hurt our hossst.”

            Eddie cried out as he was dragged back and underneath Venom, “No! No, stop!”

            “We will not ssstop.” Venom growled, pinning both of Eddie’s arms over his head and then using web to keep his hands in place.

            Eddie struggled frantically as his pants were removed, “No! No, Venom, fuck Parker, not me! Fuck him! You wanted him!”

            “We do ssstill and he will be oursss, but we mussst be patient. Mussstn’t we?” Venom purred and leaned forward, licking over Eddie’s bare chest, “Eddie is so strong . . . we thought we needed little ssspider to bear our young . . . but we can take better care of our hossst, can’t we? Ssstay ssso much clossser.”

            Eddie threw his head back and sobbed, “Venom . . . Venom, please . . . “

            Venom either didn’t care or didn’t listen and either way it didn’t stop as it stroked its tongue over Eddie’s chest, caressing his nipples and stomach until Eddie was very hard and leaking. Venom chortled in its throat and moved its head lower, licking at the dripping head of Eddie’s penis,

            “Eddie wantsss thisss.” Venom hissed happily, purring as it nuzzled Eddie’s belly, which was still tender for whatever reason.

            “No, he does not!” Eddie grit out through clenched teeth, thrashing as Venom spread his legs.

            “Doesss.”

            “No!”

            “Yesss.”

            “Shut up!” Eddie yelled pulling angrily on his bonds only to huff and go limp.

            Venom purred louder and grinned, “Good hossst, relaxxx, little Eddie.”

            Eddie let his head fall to the side as he felt something pushing on his anus, he didn’t even flinch when a clawed finger pushed in slowly, this wasn’t the first time he’d had this happen. He’d be lying if he said that Venom didn’t take care of _all_ his needs, including when he needed to get off. This, however, was different, this wasn’t Eddie enjoying the tightness that Venom could provide while acting as his living suit or a tentacle around his dick or even slight penetration that he had been absolutely terrified of at first but then found he didn’t mind having his prostate stimulated one bit; no, this wasn’t like that at all.  This was Venom on another body, fucking Eddie, _impregnating Eddie_! And it wasn’t fair! It had been slightly different when Eddie had thought he’d be the one buggering Peter and getting him knocked up!

            Now he lay limp and pliable under Venom until the alien finally released and then withdrew, leaving Eddie feeling used and empty and depressed. The webbing was torn free and Eddie sat up slowly, grabbing for his pants and shifting away. He heard gasping as Venom peeled away from Peter, the stunned young man was speechless for once. Eddie felt Venom crawl back onto him and settle itself back in place, its consciousness brushing against Eddie’s, but he ignored it and continued to get dressed.

            Peter was sitting there, naked and shaking, his eyes wide as Eddie got up and moved to the nest. They didn’t speak for some time then Peter swallowed,

            “It said I didn’t have to stay when it was done but-”

            “Then go.” Eddie snapped, curling under the blanket.

            “But,” Peter continued, “If I left, it would find me again so it would be in my best interest to stay.”

            Eddie groaned in frustration and tugged the blanket over his head, ignoring how much it smelled like the donation box he’d taken it from; sweat and possibly puke.

            “Eddie . . . I’m sor-“

            “Don’t you fucking dare!” Eddie threw the blanket off, baring his fangs and getting up despite how much it hurt, “Don’t you _dare_ say you’re sorry! You probably blacked out during the whole thing you little asshole!”

            Venom shifted and snarled angrily at its mate being berated so much but Eddie ignored it,

            “You did, didn’t you?”

            Peter swallowed thickly and bit his lip, “I wasn’t really all . . . uh, there.”

            Eddie growled at the ceiling and then started pacing, putting the ache in his ass and guts out of his mind as he moved angrily from one side of the room to the other,

            “You-You get everything, don’t you? Everything I want, you get! I hate you so much you don’t even- Argh!” Eddie tore at his hair then collapsed in a shuddering heap, sobbing miserably, “You . . . you . . . “

            Venom shifted again and purred, hoping to comfort its host, rumbling through his mind and the bit of Venom that covered Eddie’s lower half and arms vibrated a bit and flexed.

            Eddie snuffled and shook his head, “We don’t want you to go.”

            Peter glanced at the window and closed his eyes, “You won’t let me, will you?”

            “We will stop you and if you manage to escape, we will hunt you down and bring you back,” Eddie looked up at Peter, his eyes hardening, “And we will punish you if we must.”

            Peter shivered in what Eddie hoped was fear, “ . . . Eddie . . . “

            Eddie moved toward Peter on all fours, leaning over he bumped his forehead against Peter’s good shoulder, “But we will alssso care for mate . . . love mate . . . ssshow mate we are good . . . “ He looked up, his milky blue eyes blinking, “Pleassse don’t make usss be cruel . . . we love our sssweet little ssspider.”

            Peter stared at Eddie, his hands trembling as Eddie seemed to shift between Venom and himself,

            “What about my friends? My family? My own life?”

            Eddie smiled, showing his fangs, “They aren’t important anymore, little ssspider, little love, you have usss now, and that isss all you will ever need.”


	3. Strung Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Peter try to cope with Venom's decisions

            Eddie woke up sore from his neck down and oddly warm; he glanced around then saw Parker curled up next to him on his nest. Eddie hissed irritably and pulled his blankets closer to himself and off of Peter.

            Peter opened his eyes at the sudden loss of warmth and glared blearily at Eddie, “Hey!”

            Eddie gave him the finger and rolled over, “My nest. Make your own!”

            _Our nessst! Mate will get cold._

“Then he can get cold!” Eddie growled then he gasped as his stomach seemed to lurch, he got up and ran to the far side of the room to empty his stomach, “Ngh! What the fuck?”

            “Morning sickness?” Peter asked derisively from the nest, tugging another blanket onto his shoulders.

            “Very funny, web-for-brains,” Eddie grumbled and huffed, his hand going to his stomach and rubbing the slight distention, “Shit . . . “

            _Hossst ssshould ressst._

“And Venom should shush.” Eddie mumbled, moving back to the nest and sitting down gingerly, tugging on his hoodie and glaring at Peter, “So what am I expected to do with you all day then?”

            “I don’t know.” Peter sighed, shivering.

            Eddie stared at him then sighed, pulling Peter against his chest despite the squawk of protest that earned him, “Might as well be comfortable I guess.”

            Peter shifted uncomfortably against Eddie then huffed, “So, I’m a prisoner now?”

            “Suppose so. Not such a bad thing though, is it?” Eddie murmured, instinct urging him to nuzzle and lick at the nape of Peter’s neck.

            Peter squirmed, trying to get away from the prodding tongue that seemed to lengthen and curl around his ear, “Eddie, stop . . . please stop.”

            “Why? You’re our mate now, ssso we might asss well enjoy it, yesss?” Eddie shivered as Venom pushed more to the front of their mind.

            Peter tried to get up as Eddie pulled him more into the blonde’s lap, his long tongue questing for new tastes,

            “No, Eddie, stop it!” Peter pushed on Eddie’s chest when he was turned to face the other man.

            “No.” Eddie hissed, his tongue snaking out to caress Peter’s lips then pushed inside the resisting mouth, his fingers stroking the skin it could reach while keeping a tight grip on the struggling human.

            Peter was frantic to get away even as his body betrayed him, as it would do inevitably, he was, after all, a hot-blooded male and he _was_ being touched. He grimaced and looked at Eddie who was struggling with his own issues, clearly still very, very angry with what had happened earlier and yet Venom wanted more. Peter pulled away finally and sat back, he bit his lip then reached up with his good arm and stroked Eddie’s cheek.

            Eddie stiffened at the contact and stopped what he was doing to stare at Peter. He shivered while Peter moved his hand slowly down to his shoulder and squeezed lightly then moved back up to card through Eddie’s short blonde hair.

            “ . . . ssspider . . . “

            “Eddie, please don’t hurt me.” Peter murmured, “I don’t want you to be angry with me . . . this isn’t my fault either.”

            Eddie blinked and looked at Peter, “We want you . . . we love you, ssspider . . . our mate . . . let usss ssshow you.”

            Peter swallowed and shook his head, “Eddie, you’ll hurt yourself, we all know that. Just-just take it easy okay? Please?”

            Eddie moved closer and nuzzled Peter’s chin, “ . . . I don’t matter.”

            And there was no immediate reply to make him think otherwise.

            Peter blinked and ran his fingers over Eddie’s shoulders when he was finally let go, “That isn’t true, Venom said-“

            Eddie leaped back angrily, shoving Peter off his lap and onto his back, “Venom says a lot of things! It promises and hisses and pleads! It’s al-always here . . . in my head.”

            Peter blinked up at Eddie and then sat up more, “It trusts you.”

            “Because I obey!” Eddie roared, his hand lifting as if to strike Peter but it wouldn’t go any further, his face reddened with frustration then he howled and threw himself at a wall, smashing off some drywall but he didn’t stop there, he swung his fists at anything stationary, shattering a door, breaking anything and everything that his hands could connect with. All the while with Venom shrieking for him to stop hurting himself; tendrils of it wrapping around Eddie’s hands and legs then connecting to restrain him until Eddie could do little more than howl and writhe on the floor, most of his anger melting away as Venom pumped calming emotions through their link.

            After Eddie was reduced to breathing heavily and twitching, Peter moved closer, his hand outstretched,

            “Eddie, you need to stop.”

            “Leave me alone.” Eddie growled, only for more of the symbiote to latch onto his face and close his mouth, “Mmph!”

            Venom roared in his head, drowning out whatever drivel Peter was trying to tell him and effectively quieted Eddie.

            “-and you’re bleeding too.”

            Eddie blinked up at Peter when he could finally make out what the brunette was saying, “ . . . Mph?”

            “You’re bleeding and I think you may have broken a finger or two.” Peter continued, reaching down to examine Eddie’s bound hands only for Eddie to thrash and roll away from him, glaring daggers at Peter, “Eddie, please let me help you.”

            Eddie was about to snarl and hopefully scare the idiot away when Venom butted in,

            _Hossst, let our ssspider tend to its woundsss._

“Mo. Mumph omff.”

            _Eddie, hossst, we fear for it. And our young, let the ssspider help it._

“MO!” Eddie thrashed against the relatively weak bonds angrily, “Mem mme mmo!”

            _We will not releassse our hossst until it calmsss._

Eddie roared in frustration but then deflated, sobbing exhaustedly as the symbiote retracted and his hands and feet were freed. He just laid there and let Peter touch him and mop up the blood on his hands with something that looked suspiciously like one of the blankets. He finally looked up at Peter,

            “Why are you still here?”

            “It was made kinda clear that I can’t really get away.” Peter shrugged, “Besides, you don’t seem to function on your own very well.”

            “Fuck you.” Eddie snapped angrily then he huffed resignedly, “We don’t, do we? W- I’m defective.”

            _No._

“No.”

            Eddie blinked at the echo and his eyebrow rose, “How?”

            “You’ve lasted longer than other’s that the symbiotes control. And essentially, you’re still you. Eddie Brock didn’t disappear.” Peter shrugged, wrapping strips of the blanket around Eddie’s knuckles then helped the man sit up.

            Eddie snorted, wrapping his arms protectively around his knees, “Not really. We don’t remember some things from life before Venom. We are no longer it and me . . . we are us. As long as I’m cooperative.”

            Peter licked his lip, “You know . . . it cares about you.”

            “Really? Funny way to show it.” Eddie ignored the answering snarl from Venom.

            “I could feel it, Eddie, when it took over my body, it wanted to be gentle with you and it wanted you.” Peter grimaced, “For whatever that’s worth. I really don’t want it to be in my head ever again.”

            Eddie stared at Peter and shrugged, “It isn’t that bad, really, I’m never alone when Venom is with me.”

            “But you’re angry that it chose you over me to carry the eggs?” Peter’s eyebrow rose, “’Cuz frankly, I’m relieved.”

            “It isn’t so much that as the feeling of it detaching from me, leaving me alone and unaware of what it was doing or thinking.” Eddie shivered then looked at Peter who was shaking and goosepimpled from the cold, “We should get you some clothes or something . . . “

            “That would be appreciated.” Peter grumbled, looking around at the crumbling building, “You sure know how to pick ‘em, regular Barbie dreamhouse, this is.”

            “Venom chose it, not me.” Eddie stood up shakily, drained physically and emotionally from his . . . _episode_.

            “Why here?” Peter stood and followed Eddie.

            Eddie shrugged, “Secluded, abandoned and void of anything overly dangerous. It’s a good old-fashioned love nest if you look at it in the right light, perfect for housing the kidnapped.”

            Peter shook his head, “Speaking of, my family will be wondering where I am, you know.”

            “I don’t care.” Eddie muttered, kicking his nest a bit with his bare foot then he collapsed on top of it contentedly.

            “I do!” Peter snapped, moving to be in Eddie’s line of sight, “Eddie, I have classes, work, and other . . . things! Like superhero things! The Avengers will wonder where I am and come looking for me, not to mention my aunt and stuff!”

            Eddie tilted his head and sat up again, “What do we think?” He murmured.

            _Out mate hasss point._

“We’re admitting to that? Well alright but what do we do?” Eddie looked up at Peter for a moment then closed his eyes.

            Venom hissed loudly and seemed to pace mentally,

            _Sssupossse we keep an eye on our ssspider?_

“Let him go? Why?”

            _Sssupossse we follow and keep sssafe._

“We’re listening.” Eddie glanced up at Peter as the boy fidgeted and looked anxious and perhaps a bit hopeful.

            _If we let ssspider go, we don’t have to worry over ssspider’sss needsss._

“Let him go about his life and we’ll get him when we need him. Alright, I can roll with not having to look at him all day.” Eddie tilted his head and sighed, “Venom says we will agree to let you go but we have conditions.”

            “What are they?” Peter looked nervous, and for good reason.

            “When we come for you, you will leave with us without question and you’ll be a good, compliant little spider. You won’t say ‘no’ or tell us to ‘stop’. You won’t fight us. You won’t do anything to hinder what we want.”

            “And if I do all that,” Peter shifted uncomfortably, “What then?”

            “We won’t sneak into anyone’s home in the night and slaughter them or kidnap you again, it is tiresome to do that and we are still recovering.” Eddie explained, “Don’t count on it lasting though, we’ll be back in commission in a day or so.”           

* * *

            Eddie watched Peter hurry to dress in his costume and run on home. He shifted to be more comfortable,

            “Why did we agree to that?”

            _Ssspider will obey if it thinksss it hasss freedom._

“We’re one twisted sister, you know that, right?” Eddie smiled then it fell and he sat back on the nest, staring around him, “ . . . Venom?”

            _Yess?_

            “ . . . do you love us?” Eddie asked, putting his injured hands on his knees.

            _Of courssse, hossst Eddie, little ssspider is our mate but Eddie is our hossst._

“There’s a difference?” Eddie closed his eyes tiredly.

            _Great differenccce._

“ . . . Don’t leave me again.”

            _Will need to if we are to mate again._

“Then let me do it.” Eddie suggested, but he knew he was arguing with a brick wall.

            _No. We will carry on asss we did before._

And that was the last word on that.


	4. Disconnect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie tries to get Peter to make good on the clearly one-sided agreement and well, things get sticky.

            Peter was sitting in his apartment’s living room when his cell phone started to rang, he quickly looked at the screen, his eyebrows furrowing when he didn’t recognize the number but answered it anyway,

            “Um, hello? Who is this?”

            “ . . . Peter?”

            Peter stood up quickly, “Eddie?”

            “Heh, so that is your number. Alright glad we were right.”

            Peter glared at the number on the screen before putting the phone back to his head, “How did you get this number and where are you calling from?”

            “Not important and we stole a cell phone.” Eddie drawled, sounding bored.

            “You can’t just steal people’s things!” Peter snapped angrily, pacing the apartment.

            “Villain, remember? And that isn’t why we called.”

            “What is it?” Peter pinched the bridge of his nose, shoving his glasses up on his face tiredly.

            “We want to see you tonight. Thought we’d do the courteous thing and call ahead.”

            “How very polite of you, the answer is no, I’ve got a pile of things to take care of and a meeting with the Avengers later.” Peter sighed heavily.

            “ . . . we weren’t giving you the option, Spiderdick.”

            “Eddie, I have a _life_ , remember? I can’t just disappear for days on end!” Peter glared out the small window then froze, his spider senses tingling, “Where are you?”

            “We’re close by. And we told you, you don’t need friends or family anymore, you have us.”

            “I don’t want you! Eddie, tell me where you are right now!” Peter went around gathering up his webshooters and suit, if Venom was near here he was sure to have trouble.

            “ . . . Peter, put that stuff down. We aren’t going to blow the building up or anything.”

            Peter’s spine stiffened and he looked out the window again, his eyes darting about to try and find the symbiote then he did. Eddie was standing on the building opposite and when he locked eyes, Eddie waved.

            “Lookin’ good, baby daddy.”

            “Do _not_ call me that,” Peter snapped, opening the window, but still talking into the receiver, “Eddie, get over here and we’ll talk okay?”

            “No, we don’t want to talk, we want a fuck and you’re going to give it to us. Remember, you agreed. And if you don’t do as we say, things will get . . . messy.”

            Eddie gave Peter the finger-swipe-across-the-neck gesture and waved for Peter to come over to him. Peter shook his head angrily,

            “Eddie, I’m not doing that again, alright? You’ll have to find someone else to-“

            Eddie doubled over then he snarled into the phone,

            “We didn’t sssay ssspider had choiccce. It will behave and do asss we sssay or sssuffer!”

            “ . . . Venom, I-“

            “Tonight, our little ssspider, or sssuffer.”

            Then Eddie hung up, ran over the building’s roof and dropped down into an alleyway and disappeared.

            Peter blinked then groaned in frustration, there was no reasoning with Venom once the thing had its mind made up, unfortunately that meant that it would follow through on any and all threats it made. And it gave the impression that Eddie wasn’t going to be the voice of reason either. 

* * *

            Later Peter was swinging on his somewhat merry way when he heard a loud sound coming from behind him, he quickly looked over his shoulder only to groan and try to move faster,

            “Bug off, Eddie!” He shouted over his shoulder.

            Venom was keeping up, but wasn’t gaining, “Very witty, ssspider.”

            “Yeah, that’s me.” Peter muttered, “You know, when in pursuit of someone, it’s usually key to catch up to them.”

            “You’ll tire and land sssometime.” The symbiote reasoned.

            “That so?” Peter grimaced, he was actually getting tired and he wanted to go home and go to bed, maybe eat some leftover lasagna that Aunt May brought him . . .

            “Give up?”

            “No.” Peter glanced back at the dark creature only for it to start speeding up.

            “You agreed!”

            “I’m seriously rethinking that decision!”

            Venom roared and a string of dark, sticky webbing shot at Peter, hitting him smack-dab between the shoulders and propelling him forward, his web snapped and he had just enough time to think ‘ah, crap’, before he slammed into a large office building.

            Venom shot more web at Peter, effectively trapping him against the wall until the symbiote could get closer,

            “You agreed, ssso you will behave.”

            Peter struggled valiantly but knew he was beat, “What do you want from me?”

            “You know what we want.” Venom said simply then hit Peter hard enough to knock him out. 

* * *

            Eddie grimaced as he peeled Parker’s suit off, “ . . . Venom, I don’t know about this. I’m still not happy about last time.”

            Venom hissed, rippling and shifting so that it was stretching to ‘look’ at Eddie,

            _We want the ssspider._

“I know we do,” Eddie mumbled, “But do we have to be such an ass about it?”

            _Hossst isss being difficult._

“Yes he is.” Eddie sighed and sat back, staring down at Peter’s naked skin, he reached out and ran his fingers down from Parker’s collarbone to his hip. For a dude, Peter was kinda pretty . . . delicate almost.

            Eddie groaned as Venom rippled over him and started to stimulate his cock,

            “Th-That’s not fair . . . “ Eddie gasped, tucking his head into his chest to look down at Venom.

            _Husssh_.

            Eddie rolled his eyes and looked back at Peter who was starting to wake up, Eddie leaned over him and started to kiss and lick Peter’s neck and collarbone all while making aborted thrusts with his hips in the air while Venom prepped him.

            Peter’s eyes fluttered slowly open and he groaned, his head was probably pounding from when Venom knocked him out. Eddie worked his way up to mouth gently at Peter’s jawline, being very careful to only lightly scrape his jagged teeth on the pale skin,

            “ . . . Eddie?”

            “Mm?” Eddie closed his eyes, silently begging Peter to say his name again, only a little more breathless-sounding and maybe a smidgen choked with emotion.

            “What are you . . . ?” Peter tried feebly to get up but he was still weak so he just flopped back down on the nest.

            Eddie panted and reached down, stroking his fingers lightly over Peter’s slowly stirring cock, “Shh . . . just let me.”

            “Ed . . . Eddie, no, stop that.” Peter tried to close his thighs and sit up but only closed his eyes and groaned.

            Venom mistook this for permission to advance and a black tentacle snapped out, and suddenly Eddie froze, at first thinking Venom was going to leave him again only to bite his lip as more emotions and thoughts flowed over them, _Peter’s_ emotions and thoughts. Pain from his head. The need to escape. The need to stop this. The constant barrage of ‘no no no no stop no please no stop’ shrieking through their minds.

            Then Peter’s eyes flew open because he also felt things; Eddie desperate to remember who he was. Venom’s desires and needs and wants. Eddie aroused and needing release. Venom’s young, so precious and small and needing protection. Eddie. Venom. Eddie. Venom. Us. We. Ours. And the all-encompassing MINE.

            “Eddie, please, don’t.” Peter bit out, feeling sick, “You don’t want this.”

            “Yesss, we do.” Eddie hissed through Peter’s protests and kissed the corner of the brunette’s mouth, “Give in to usss . . . Join with usss . . . “

            Peter arched his back and tried to dislodge the connection but then felt himself slipping once more into the collective mind, he remembered when the suit was his and how it had felt . . . he stared into Eddie’s eyes, so pale and distant and confused, and Peter knew he would never be able to escape them . . . they would find him no matter where he went or what he did, they would never stop because they couldn’t.

            “It remembers, doesn’t it?” Peter asked softly as the symbiote shifted to make connections to both men.

            “Yesss, we remember being with the ssspider, our ssspider, ssso ssstrong and perfect . . . “ Eddie gasped as his skin was allowed to touch Peter’s, “Oursss alwaysss.”

            Peter felt his eyes burn and then he hiccupped and cried because Eddie’s thoughts and emotions were so far buried and quiet he wasn’t as there as Peter had thought . . . he really was disappearing . . .

            “Eddie . . . “ Peter reached up and stroked Eddie’s cheek, “ . . . Eddie?”

            Eddie’s eyes were glazed over as Venom wove around them both until they were almost engulfed by the symbiote together, “Yesss?”

            “No, I want to talk to Eddie.” Peter said firmly, blinking the tears out of his eyes.

            “You are.” Eddie moved lower, kissing and stroking Peter’s chest and nipples, “We are Eddie and we are Venom, we are no longer jussst one or the other.”

            Peter moaned and tried to keep his own thoughts above the heady sea of whatever passed for Eddie and Venom’s mind, “ . . . is this what you want for me too?”

            “Yesss, oursss forever. We will be one again.” Eddie went lower, stretching the tight ropes of symbiote and he licked a stripe up the underside of Peter’s cock.

            Peter shivered then reached down and pulled Eddie back up to be eye-level, “Then do it.”

            Eddie nodded and nudged Peter’s legs up to his chest before reaching down to tease and stretch the brunette’s hole with his fingers, “Together again.”

            Peter closed his eyes and tried to think of anything but what he was allowing to happen, he had no choice really, he was almost engulfed in Venom and Eddie was a heavy, horny weight on his chest . . . escape would be almost impossible without help which didn’t look like it wanted to show up any time soon.

            Eddie continued to kiss and mouth Peter’s neck and jawline, occasionally trying to kiss him or suck on Peter’s lip but he got no response so Eddie eventually just gave up on that. When Venom hissed with impatience Eddie withdrew his fingers and positioned his penis against Peter’s anus then pushed in.

            Peter gasped and grit his teeth at the burning, stretching feeling while Eddie seated himself deep inside the brunette’s guts. He shook his head as the pain radiated then subsided and he could find his lungs again.

            Eddie groaned and started to thrust then growled when he felt Venom pushing into him from behind and entering his body, “Ah, yesss, oh godsss . . . yesss!”

            The blonde wrapped his arms around Peter and pushed into him then back onto Venom, “Peter . . . mmm, Peter, you feel so good!”

            Peter shuddered and held onto Eddie and waited for this to be over, then something stroked over his cock at the same time Eddie’s brushed something inside the younger man,

            “Ah! OH! What-What was-?”

            “Found your sweet spot, huh? Okay.” Eddie nodded and shifted so he would do that every time.

            Peter was soon reduced to a writhing, twitching mass of ‘please let me cum, I’m going to explode! Please please please!’ and Eddie felt his own orgasm building until Venom shivered over them all and Eddie knew it was finished so he pulled back then slammed home a few more times as he came, feeling Peter release on his chest with a strangled cry.

            Venom retreated back to partially covering Eddie and was silent. Eddie moaned as he pulled out of Peter and shifted away to flop onto his back. Peter, however, just laid there, apparently in shock,

            “Are you . . . are you thinking about doing that again?” He propped himself up on his elbows.

            “Yes, we are.” Eddie sat up and groaned, “See? Being linked isn’t so bad. I really would rather not have known you thought of what’s-her-face when I was pile-driving your ass but I guess it being your first time you-“

            “I wasn’t using Gwen to get off, you asshole, I was wondering how to explain this _to my girlfriend_!” Peter snapped, pulling his knees up to seemingly protect himself.

            Eddie blinked slowly, he wasn’t totally in tune with Peter, he had been able to only feel a little bit of emotion and flashes of thought, but he didn’t like the idea of Parker having a girlfriend,

            “Break up with her.”

            Peter’s eyes widened, “What?”

            “You heard me.” Eddie shrugged and tilted his head.

            “No!”

            “Why not?”

            “I love her!” Peter stood up angrily, glancing around for his clothes.

            “We love you.” Eddie stood up too, feeling Venom’s territorial aspect pushing forward.

            “You _lust_ for me, that isn’t the same.” Peter snapped, “Where are my clothes?”

            “No, _I_ love you.” Eddie said, he chose to ignore the question, instead grabbing Peter’s shoulder and making him turn around.

            Peter faltered, uncomfortable with the close proximity and how stormy Eddie’s eyes looked.

            “ _Venom_ wants your body for . . . things, but I love you, I may be crazy and not remember who I am or was sometimes, but I’m here enough to know that.” Eddie said firmly, putting his other hand on Peter’s cheek.

            “You hate me.” Peter pointed out.

            “I hate that you always are better than me. I hate that I can’t be the little hero. I hate that I’m always there but constantly looked over for bimbos that don’t know and understand you. I hate that you’d rather waste your time on them when I could make you so happy. And I hate that there are times when I know you’re in pain or hurting and that I caused it. I hate Spiderman, but I don’t hate you . . . I don’t hate Peter Parker, the cute, nerdy, little brat with a joke for everything and a heart as big as all outdoors . . . I can’t hate you.” Eddie hung his head and sighed, “I understand that Peter Parker and Spiderman will always co-exist the same way that Venom and Eddie Brock will always be one and the same now . . . but this?” Here he looked up and ran his fingers down to Peter’s shoulder then back to his cheek, “This is us together, Eddie and Peter with Venom and Spiderman just a step or two in the background. And I want this.”

            Peter stared at Eddie for a moment then closed his eyes, “Eddie . . . this would never work.”

            “I could make it work! I’d be the best boyfriend ever!” Eddie bit his lip, “I’m really low maintenance and you could still do your superhero thing and I wouldn’t care!”

            “Eddie . . . “

            “You liked having sex, didn’t you? I would satisfy you so good, you’ll wonder why we haven’t been banging it out before now!”

            “Eddie.”

            “And Venom isn’t so bad, really, it just needs to hunt every so often, you know? You won’t even know it’s there and it won’t kill people or anything! I-”

            “Eddie!”

            Eddie started and looked at Peter, “What?”

            Peter sighed heavily and shook his head, “I have a girlfriend.”

            Eddie grimaced, “You said that already.”

            “I have a _girl_ friend, Eddie, I’m not gay.” Peter said more firmly, crossing his arms.

            Eddie was quiet for a moment then shook his head, “I thought I wasn't too, but, we both liked having sex so-“

            “Eddie,” Peter said over Eddie’s frantic counter-argument, “That was _not_ me enjoying myself, that was my body reacting to stimuli.”

            Eddie backed up a few steps, “No. You love us. You must.”

            “No, Eddie, you knocked me out and brought me here, I would not have come here if you didn’t force me to do so.” Peter’s tone sounded like he was talking to an upset child.

            Eddie shook his head desperately, “No.”

            “Eddie, I don’t know what Venom keeps telling you or making you feel to convince you that this is okay, but it isn’t. This is not okay, this is so far from okay that it’s downright wrong.” Peter looked around then located his costume and quickly pulled it on.

            Eddie swallowed around the lump forming in his throat, “Peter . . . Peter, please, just give me a chance. I’ll show you I’m right!”

            Peter glanced toward the exit, “No.”

            Eddie burst into tears as Peter started to leave, the blonde fell to his knees and covered his head, “Please don’t go, please don’t leave us! Don’t leave me! I don’t want to be alone! I don’t want to forget myself!”

            “I’m sorry, Eddie . . . I’m sorry but I can’t.”

            Eddie howled as Peter leapt out the window and was gone.

            _Go after the ssspider, you fool!_

Eddie ignored it.

            _We mussst not lossse our mate!_

Eddie shook his head and sobbed.

            _Hossst, go and-_

“NO! Just-Just leave me alone for once!” Eddie cried and hugged himself.

            Venom shrieked in anger and started to squeeze and almost claw at Eddie’s body in frustration then was quiet for a long span.

            _Eddie isss heart-broken . . . ?_

Eddie nodded and shivered, “Yes, Eddie is heart-broken.”

            Venom slithered over Eddie in a protective way, caressing his skin where it had left bruises and light cuts,

            _We are sssorry._

“I know we are.” Eddie whispered, staring tearfully up at the evening sky.

            _Perhapsss we mussst play by ssspider’sss rulesss?_

“What do we mean?” Eddie mumbled, feeling tired and the eggs in his guts shifted a bit, making him wince.

            _Ssshow mate we are the bessst choiccce._

Eddie closed his eyes and nodded, “Prove we’re better than Gwen or whatever . . . he’ll have to see and accept our love.”

            _Then the ssspider will have to help protect our young._

Eddie nodded again, running his hand over his belly, “Being a somewhat-single parent won’t be much fun and I bet Spiderprick won’t pay child support if we remain separated from him.”

            Venom mentally nodded,

            _We will ssshow the ssspider how attentive and good we are asss mate._

Eddie smiled, feeling a little better, “Yes, we won’t be alone.”

            The eggs seemed to shift in agreement with him.

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Eddie . . . and then I think Poor Peter because this will not go smoothly.


	5. Anything you can do . . .

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie tries to prove he's a better partner then Gwen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little longer than most of the chapters if I'm not mistaken and thanks to all the kudos and comments. They fill me! They are neat!

            Eddie checked then double-checked then triple-checked that Peter was still sleeping before he tip-toed across the bedroom floor and toward the kitchenette,

            _What are we doing?_

“Shh, making breakfast.” Eddie held a finger up to his lips and started to carefully rifle through the fridge, grinning when he found eggs, cheese and bread, “Can you hand me that pan over there?”

            There was a moment of consideration before Venom stretched out a tentacle and wrapped it around the handle of the pan,

            _Thisss one?_

“Yeah, bring it here.” Eddie moved over to the stove and gently set all the food down on the counter, reaching his hand back so Venom could give him the pan.

            Venom pulled the pan after it and hissed in triumph when it was able to pass it to Eddie. Eddie gave it the thumbs-up and turned on the stove,

            “Hey, see if you can find some butter, you know . . . uh that animal fat stuff.”

            Venom flexed then pushed into the cupboards until it located a butter dish,

            _Disssgusssting._

“No one asked your opinion, Sticky.” Eddie mumbled while he cracked eggs on the pan and watched them sizzle, “I’ve never been good at flipping them . . . Petey will have to settle for scrambled.”

            Venom was preoccupied with keeping a lookout for the web-slinger and chose not to reply. Eddie hummed to himself while he cooked the eggs and popped some bread into the old toaster, Peter would absolutely love this, they made him breakfast so the little egghead wouldn’t have to rush around then forget breakfast. Eddie knew he did this, all that stalking would really pay off after all the information he’d garnered about Parker’s habits and routines.

            The toast popped up just as the eggs were getting finished so Eddie dumped them on a plate that Venom so graciously got down for him and the blonde buttered the toast and poured a glass of orange juice. He gathered it all up and quickly padded into Peter’s bedroom where he set the food down on the nightstand, Eddie then carefully sat on the edge of the bed and waited.

            It wasn’t long before Peter’s nose told his brain that there was food in the vicinity to fill his empty stomach and his eyes slowly responded by opening in confusion, he took maybe a full second before he was on his feet and glaring at Eddie,

            “Whoa, hey, no! What are you- ? How did you- ? Eddie!” Peter looked around frantically, “I-“

            “You’d better eat before those eggs get cold.” Eddie nodded to the plate.

            “Wha-?” Peter turned around and stared at the plate of eggs with toast and the glass of juice, then he glanced at Eddie, “What is this?”

            “Breakfast. You’d should eat soon or you’ll be late for stuff.” Eddie leaned back comfortably and smiled.

            “Okay, explain to me how you got in and why you made me eggs.” Peter crossed his arms, glancing around uneasily.

            “Well we tried to get through a window but you had them locked so we waited for someone else to unlock the front door, climbed the stairs, and-“

            “You found my spare key?” Peter’s eyes widened slightly.

            Eddie snorted and rolled his eyes, “Under the welcome mat isn’t exactly an original hiding spot, sweetcheeks.”

            Peter’s cheeks reddened, “And the breakfast?”

            Eddie shrugged, “I used to like it when my significant other made me breakfast.”

            “We are _not_ significant others!” Peter snapped but his eyes stayed on the eggs and his stomach gurgled audibly.

            “ . . . yet.” Eddie muttered, “Does _Gwen_ ever make you breakfast in bed?”

            “That isn’t the point here! You broke into my house! How is this in any way supposed to woo me?” Peter shook his head, “You’re so messed up in the head, Eddie!”

            Eddie tilted his head, choosing to ignore that last comment, “Now he’s angry with us.”

            _Why? We are providing nourissshment for mate! Ssspider ssshould be happy we are ssso attentive._

“That’s what I thought, but apparently we aren’t always right.”

            Peter sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Eddie, are you talking to Venom?”

            Eddie blinked and looked up, “Yes.”

            “Please stop, it’s unnerving.” Peter shook his head, “Look, please leave, I have several things to get ready for and I really, really don’t want you hanging around, alright?”

            Eddie blinked sadly up at Peter as the brunette left the bedroom and went toward the bathroom, “But- . . . “

            Venom made a sad whimper-like noise and tightened around Eddie’s body slightly.

            Eddie glanced at the untouched breakfast and bit his lip, “Alright, round one to you, webhead, but I’ve got more than one trick up these sleeves.”

            With that he went to the window and climbed out it. 

* * *

            Peter waited until he was sure that Eddie was gone before quickly going back into the bedroom and wolfing down every little bit of egg and toast, as much as he hated to give in to the symbiote, he _was_ hungry and the eggs _were_ good.

            “What the heck am I going to do?” He sighed and shook his head.

            It was clear that Eddie and Venom wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, they were fixated on him and Peter knew he wasn’t going to be able to shake them, the symbiote would do whatever it took to get what it wanted . . .

            “And Eddie’s enough of a hardhead to not give up either,” Peter put the empty plate and glass aside then went to his dresser and quickly got dressed before hurrying out the door.

* * *

             Eddie didn’t have trouble tagging along a few steps behind Peter, the nerd did keep glancing over his shoulder but it was obvious he didn’t match his tingly spidey-sense with the sweatshirt-clad man. Eddie had lots of more ideas and he would make sure that Peter knew he meant business about this, his little geek would just _have_ to see they were right for each other!

            Peter made it to his class on time without a hitch, so Eddie breathed out and waited. He was never a patient person but Venom was there to remind him that rushing this would end in disaster again for all concerned parties, so they waited.

            When the bespectacled brunette finally stepped back out of the building, Eddie’s head snapped up and if he had a tail, it would be wagging, Venom also rippled and hummed happily. They were about to nonchalantly sidle up to Peter and walk with him when someone else beat them to it.

            “That must be Gwen . . . “ Eddie murmured and Venom snarled territorially.

            The pretty blonde girl was everything that Eddie thought a guy like Peter didn’t have a chance with, but apparently times changed. Eddie stalked after the pair, his mind seething with jealousy when the girl kissed Peter’s cheek and they walked to a coffee shop with arms linked. It looked so easy! Why did it look so easy? After all the effort he’d put into not just jumping Peter and holding him prisoner, this girl could just waltz up to Peter and kiss him on the cheek in broad daylight like it was nothing!

            “If we tried it, he’d probably hit us.” Eddie mumbled, staring longingly through the window as he ground his teeth, he couldn’t tell if he was more agitated or upset by Gwen’s entrance but he knew he had to do something . . . and soon.

            He was just deciding on what to do next when Peter looked his way for no apparent reason and their eyes locked. Peter’s widened and he quickly glanced around then stood up, saying something unimportant to the blonde chick and hurrying out the door,

            “Please tell me you _didn’t_ follow me to class! Please tell me you’re just suddenly here.”

            Eddie glanced once more through the window at the girl who looked puzzled, “ . . . that’s Gwen isn’t it?”

            Peter followed Eddie’s line of sight then shook his head, “Look, Eddie, whatever you’re planning on doing, don’t. Please, don’t. I love her, alright? I love Gwen and one day I want to be with her for the rest of my life, understand?”

            It took all of five seconds for Peter to realize he’d made a grandiose mistake as Eddie’s lips curled in a twisted, toothy grin,

            “That’s . . . kinda funny, actually,” Eddie looked around at the city and all the people, “Really funny, if you want the truth.”

            “What are you talking about?” Peter took a step back warily.

            “Well, see, we want the same thing, but from you. And now we know that that’s Gwen. And the other thing, does she know who you really are?”

            Eddie and Venom could hear Peter’s heartbeat ramp up, “ . . . Eddie.”

            “Does she know about your tight-wearing, web-slinging alter ego?” Eddie pressed, looking down at Peter.

            “No.” Peter admitting, licking his lips.

            “Yeah, I thought not, so tell me, what happens when she gets tired of you stepping out every so often to fight crime? Or when you ditch her to go beat on some thugs in the name of the greater good? How long can you hide the costume and webshooters? Or how about your super strength and reflexes? She looks really smart, so she’s going to figure it out and then I have another question,” Eddie crossed his arms, his eyes narrowed, “When, not if, but when she finds out, you think she’ll accept you? You think she’ll be okay with you risking your life for people you don’t know? You think, you really, think that she won’t ask you or tell you to hang up the old spidey costume and be a good husband?”

            Peter looked stunned and understandably so, clearly he hadn’t taken any of that into account.

            “See, we don’t have to hurt her or threaten you with her to get her away, I know how this works. Not everyone is so understanding,” Eddie looked around again then sighed, “I’m smarter than I look and I can tell you that little Miss White-Bread in there clutching her tall Starbucks mocha latte and wondering where her boyfriend ran off to is about five seconds from texting you, how would it go over if you were in the middle of a fight right now? She won’t believe that you ‘missed her text’ every time, she’ll get suspicious and demand answers. Are you willing to tell her? Are you willing to risk all of that for her?”

            Peter said nothing for a few moments then looked at Eddie, right in the eye, “And you’re doing this total mind fuck because why?”

            “Because if it was me sitting waiting in there for you, I would know why you were late. I would know why you didn’t answer my text or pick up the third time I called. I would know why there’s new bruises and black eyes. I would know and I would understand and I wouldn’t try to stop you.” Eddie tilted his head slightly, “And I could even help you, the two of us kicking ass for the faceless masses, if you would just give me a chance.”

            Peter closed his eyes and took a steadying breath, “Eddie, if there is any part of you left in there, please, _please_ stop it. I don’t want you. I don’t think I ever will! You’re manipulative and sadistic! You talk a good game but I know you have your own agenda, you’re looking out for you and just you! If you really cared about me, then get rid of Venom.”

            Venom constricted around Eddie slightly.

            Eddie shook his head, “I . . . I can’t.”

            “Yes you can, get rid of it, then come talk to me, otherwise you’re just out of luck! Now if you’ll excuse me I’m supposed to be having coffee with my girlfriend.” Peter turned on his heel and made for the door but Eddie got a hold on his arm, “Eddie, let go.”

            “You know I can’t get rid of Venom, it’s been too long, I don’t remember how to be just Eddie, I don’t remember so much . . . Peter, please, I love you.” Eddie swallowed and tried to pull Peter closer.

            Peter backed up angrily, “No, you don’t. If you really cared about me, you’d let me go! If you really loved me then you’d want me to be happy! This isn’t love, this is you listening to that black ooze and letting it infect your mind with what it wants!”

            “Stop it!” Eddie shook his head, reaching out to grab Peter’s other hand.

            “No, Eddie, I won’t until you do! It’s poisoned your mind and taken away any part of you that would be thinking rationally! It’s controlling you! Fight it!” Peter wrestled out of Eddie’s grip, “You’re stronger than-“

            “Enough!”

            Eddie’s face was swallowed up by Venom and it snarled at Peter,

            “Ssspider will ssstop thisss! Hossst hasss been good.”

            Peter shook his head, “Venom, you’ll never win.”

            “Ssspider thinksss ssso? But we already have.” It grinned and then turned to leave, “You doubt her and that isss all we wanted, for now.”

* * *

            Eddie writhed and thrashed, “No!”

            _Sssilenccce!_

            “Stop it! Let me go!” Eddie tried to scramble away but Venom just reeled him in, “Peter was right! You’re eating away at me! I want out! You lying sack of sh-“

            Black webbing slapped over Eddie’s mouth, effectively silencing him.

            _Hossst Eddie isss being foolisssh, of courssse the ssspider would sssay sssuch thingsss._

Eddie shook his head and bucked to try and untangle himself from Venom as the symbiote wrapped around him over and over, cocooning him in it’s body.

            _Venom would never harm Hossst, we adore Hossst Eddie, why harm what we adore?_

_No, you’re lying! You’re using me!_

_Sssleep, Eddie, you’ll feel different after a niccce nap._

Eddie struggled until he realized he couldn’t catch his breath, he thrashed uselessly against his bonds and then slowly passed into unconsciousness.

* * *

             Peter stared out his window, glancing at his phone but nope, Eddie hadn’t tried to call him. Not that he missed the psychopath or anything, it was just that after what Eddie and Venom both said, Peter really was concerned about the blonde. What if he really was so far under Venom’s control that he _couldn’t_ break free? What if Eddie really was helpless against Venom?

            Peter remembered how difficult getting rid of the suit had been for him and he’d only had it for a few months, give or take, but Eddie had been joined with Venom a year or two ago!

            “Maybe I should help him . . . ?” Peter shook his head, “But then, what if Eddie really doesn’t want to be helped? What if he really does enjoy it as much as he says he does? . . . Damn this is a puzzler.”

            Peter paced several times around his bedroom then huffed and dialed the phone,

            “Hey, Gwen, I’m not bothering you am I? No? Okay, see, I have this problem I was hoping you could give me some female advice on. Haha no, no, that’s not- oh, very funny. No, see my friend, is in this relationship and it isn’t good. His partner is literally sucking his life up, he’s domineering and really abusive, but they’ve been together for so long that my friend doesn’t know how to _not_ be together . . . he needs help but I don’t know if he’s up to getting it because he’s afraid his partner will do something bad to him. What should I do? . . . yeah, well, I don’t know if the police would be a good option. Hmm, no, I haven’t tried that, but it’s impossible to talk to him about it because they’re always together and I mean _always_ . . . I could try that . . . no, no I think that’s really good advice, thanks, Gwen, I’ll talk to ya later . . . I-I love you too.” Peter hung up and sat down heavily, he felt caught between wanting desperately to just beat the snot out of Eddie for all the stuff he put him through and wanting to save him, “Damn hero instinct . . . help the helpless is the motto of the union I suppose.”

            He stood up, “I’ll just have to try and get Eddie out of there . . . I’ll convince him to come with me somewhere nice and loud and rip it off him if I have to, then we’ll see what’s left of Eddie in there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so if you couldn't already tell, the sexy parts of this fic are just afterthoughts. You want PWP you came to the wrong fic, yeh? I got loads of other stories with PWP, this is not one of them. This is my own monologue, my little soapbox-type-thing and that's why you don't get a lot of the sex, for this one I'm more interested in the internal struggles and the back and forth of the characters and the moral dilemma more so then the physical stuffs. Alright, I've talked enough!


	6. Deconstruct and Reconstruct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter tries to help Eddie and finds out just how far gone the blonde really is.

            Eddie stared in utter shock and confusion at the concrete block that now encased Venom, “W-What did you _do_?”

            Peter panted and pulled off his tattered mask, “I saved you.”

            Eddie couldn’t believe this, his mind was so quiet, so devoid of any presence other than his own that he felt lost and alone, he looked helplessly up at Peter, “ . . . why?”

            Peter blinked and looked at the blonde, “I suppose I should say something really cliché like ‘because you couldn’t save yourself’ or something, huh?”

            Eddie shivered, the night air suddenly felt extremely cold and abrasive on his bare skin, he blinked again and tried to piece together what he’d seen and felt in the last twenty minutes, or more accurately, what _Venom_ had seen and felt.

            Parker had said he gave up; he consented and would meet them at a warehouse of some contractors. Of course they’d been suspicious, how could they not be? But they went to meet Parker and after several jerry-rigged traps and a truckload of metal piping falling from the ceiling and creating the most godawful, nails-on-chalkboard, mind-numbing sound he’d ever thought possible, Eddie felt himself falling then he hit the concrete, dazed and still deafened.

            What happened after that was a blur, the detached Venom was little better than a mass of Jell-O without a host and Peter was able to whack it into a waiting mixer and pour the symbiote and about twenty pounds of concrete into a block mold, imprisoning the blob.

            Peter furrowed his brow as Eddie continued to behave like a bewildered baby deer, “Uh, Eddie, are you okay?”

            The blonde looked at Peter like he was crazy for even _asking_ , he shook his head then stood up, shambling about in confusion . . . as if looking for something.

            “Eddie?” Peter moved closer and put a hand on the bewildered man, only to leap back as Eddie fell apart at the seams and devolved into hysterical fits that flip-flopped between laughing and sobbing, “Eddie! Stop!”

            But Eddie couldn’t stop, he sat on the floor and started tearing at his stomach with his fingernails,

            “Too quiet! Too quiet!” He mumbled over and over as he ripped into his skin, causing scratches to bloom and some of them beaded with blood.

            Peter grabbed onto the taller man and wrenched his hands away, “What are you doing?”

            Eddie struggled, “The eggs! I need them now! I need them to come out and hatch and fill my head! So empty and quiet, Peter, it _hurts_!”

            Peter’s eyes opened wider and he remembered about the eggs Venom had put inside Eddie, “Okay, alright, we’ll get this taken care of, just come with me and I’ll help you.”

            Eddie stared at Peter then nodded his head slowly and followed the superhero out of the warehouse, giving the block of concrete one final glance before being swept off. 

* * *

            “You sure this is the right thing to do?”

            Peter looked at Dr. Bruce Banner and sighed, “He’s lost his mind, Bruce, I don’t know how else to help him.”

            At first Dr. Banner had been suspicious but then who could blame him when Eddie Brock was brought in acting like a tweek off the drugs? The first thing he’d asked was where Venom was, which had caused Eddie to burst into inconsolable sobbing until he was sedated and on the Magical Mystery Tour to Strawberry Fields. The just of the story came out then Eddie was prepped for surgery.

            “So what exactly do you want me to do with the eggs once they’re removed?” Bruce glanced up from glancing at the X-rays they’d taken of the snoozing Eddie.

            Peter looked away then closed his eyes, “Destroy them. Get rid of them in any way you can. I have to save him, Bruce, his mind is broken and I don’t know if I can salvage it, but his best chance is to not have them around.”

            Bruce blinked at Peter then nodded grimly, “Alright, let’s do this.”           

* * *

            Peter sat staring out the window, he’d left when Bruce went in and waited until he was called into the room again. To say he’d been surprised by Bruce holding three, large black eggs in his arms was an understatement.

            Each egg was jet black and the size of a softball, they were also heavy and smooth to the touch. And, if held up to the light, you could see a lifeform squishing about inside the shell. Peter grimaced at the sight of them,

            “How was he expected to survive having these in his guts?”

            “I don’t think he was.” Bruce murmured, putting the eggs in a pan, “They would have eventually gotten so large, his digestive tract would have been obstructed or ruptured and it would have killed him. I’m assuming that afterwards the young were meant to feed on Eddie then join with Venom and look for a new host.”

            “So Venom was planning on destroying Eddie.” Peter shook his head, “Well, it definitely succeeded in holding his mind captive, Eddie lost it when I took Venom off him.”

            “And if my other theory is correct, Eddie and Venom merged.” Bruce moved back to Eddie’s bedside, “Genetically-speaking.”

            Peter’s brow furrowed and he looked up from staring at the eggs, “What’cha mean?”

            “I mean, based on how his own body has ‘changed’, for lack of a better word, it’s safe to assume that Venom was becoming more a part of Eddie then just a fancy, living suit.” Bruce leaned over the sleeping Eddie, “His teeth, eyes, how strong his skeleton is and his faster healing; Venom made him a more resilient and stronger host.”

            Peter blinked, “Does that mean that Venom can still control him?”

            “No, there probably isn’t enough in him for Venom to manifest again.” Bruce leaned back then sighed, “Though if he was as connected with Venom as you described, it’ll be like detox for him the next few weeks.”

            “Like sobering up a drug-addict?” Peter grimaced, “Great, one more thing for me to deal with.”

            “You could just leave him in one of our cells and we can let him chill out, works for me.” Bruce smiled weakly.

            “ . . . No, I’ll take him with me, I sort of know what to do to help him and honestly, I don’t think he’d recover very fast in a cell.” Peter sighed, “Can I bring him now or should he rest here some more?”

            “I’d take him before he wakes up, truth be told, I doubt he’ll like hearing about the eggs.”

            “Good point.”

            “And if you need any help with him at all, you know our number.”

            “Yeah, thanks, for everything, Bruce.”

            “No problem.” 

* * *

            Peter sat quietly in his living room reading and waiting for Eddie to wake up, it was not going to be pretty that was for sure, if the past told him anything it was that getting rid of just the suit was tough as Contra on Hard mode, but getting it out of Eddie’s mind would be like playing blindfolded.

            The inevitable came by way a loud groan then a gasp followed by an even louder wail. Peter leapt to his feet and hurried into his room, standing in the doorway uncertainly as Eddie discovered he’d been tampered with,

            “The eggs! What happened? I don’t feel them anymore!” Eddie got up, wincing at the odd, light feeling in his stomach and a twinge of pain from that general area. He lifted the baggy t-shirt he was wearing and stared at the already-healing scar over his belly.

            Peter waited calmly while two and two slowly added up to four in Eddie’s brain, then the blonde looked up at him in confusion and despair,

            “ . . . Peter, what did you do?”

            Peter closed his eyes then slowly exhaled and opened them, “Eddie, it was for your own good.”

            Eddie’s whole body shook and he hugged himself, “You . . . you _killed_ my babies?”

            “Not yours, Eddie, _Venom’s_ , they were going to kill you eventually.” Peter cautiously came into the room, his hands outstretched as non-threateningly as possible, “If I didn’t have them removed, they would have gotten too big and they would have hurt you.”

            Eddie shook his head but then it seemed to hit him like a load of bricks, “ . . . but . . . but Venom said . . . it said it loved me.”

            “People say a lot of things to control others, Venom was no different,” Peter stood in front of Eddie, understanding fully that he was not in a good position, “I’m going to help you, Eddie, you’re going to get better then everything will be okay.”

            Eddie wasn’t looking at Peter, instead he was looking over Peter’s shoulder and didn’t seem able to make eye contact. He slowly turned and crawled gingerly back onto the bed,

            “ . . . where are they?”

            “I had them destroyed.” Peter said gently.

            Eddie’s shoulders hunched, curling in on himself and he shuddered, “Then why can I still _hear_ them? I can still feel them too.”

            “It’ll pass, it- . . . wait, ‘hear’ them?” Peter faltered, “Did they talk to you?”

            “Not with words,” Eddie whispered, his breath catching in his throat a few times, “With feelings and they moved a lot. And you . . . you killed them!”

            Peter’s eyes widened, “Eddie, they had to come out or you would have _died_!”

            “So what?” Eddie sat up angrily, his eyes already streaming, “Who _cares_ if I die? No one! Venom at least kept me alive so I’d be useful! It cared if I was hurt or cold or hungry! It didn’t hurt me or leave me! It was always there with me! It-It gave me a purpose and a reason to live! So what if it was controlling my mind and was going to kill me eventually? Who would have missed me? You don’t give a shit about me and I don’t remember anyone else!”

            Peter blinked slowly and shook his head, “Eddie, you don’t mean that! Venom wasn’t worth your life! You’re a human being not some puppet for that disgusting glob of ooze to play with!”

            “Shut up! What do you care? You’re Spiderman! You’re a hero with friends and a girlfriend and a home! What about me? What do I have to live for? Answer me that!” Eddie sobbed miserably but managed to keep glaring at Peter.

            Peter opened his mouth then closed it, what _did_ Eddie have to live for? He’d lived for Venom and now Venom was gone,

            “ . . . we’ll find something.” He supplied lamely, “You . . . you should really rest, Eddie, you’ve been through a lot.”

            Eddie grit his teeth then flopped onto his side, facing away from Peter and curled into a tight ball of misery.           

* * *

            Peter tried to get Eddie to eat something but the blonde refused anything the first two days then he finally lost his patience,

            “Eddie, sit up.”

            “Fuck off.”

            “No, my home, my rules. Sit up.” Peter put the tray down on the nightstand, “I did _not_ come up with that elaborate Goldberg trap to get Venom off you only for you to die of starvation. That would _not_ look good on future resumes as a superhero.”

            Eddie glared tiredly over his shoulder but rolled over and begrudgingly sat up, “Fine.”

            “It’s soup, alright? Aunt May made it for me yesterday and you’re going to eat it like a good little psychopath or I swear I’ll shove a feeding tube down your nose.” Peter grabbed the spoon and picked the bowl up, scooping some soup up and blew on it, “Open up.”

            Eddie stared at the spoon of apparently chicken noodle soup being held in front of his mouth and clamped his jaw stubbornly shut.

            Peter stared at him in disbelief, “You’re really going to just starve yourself, aren’t you?”

            “Ye- ulp!” Eddie almost choked when the spoon was shoved into his mouth and the hot soup was poured in.

            Peter smiled as Eddie swallowed and tried his best to not look like he desperately wanted all the soup, “Hungry, aren’t ya?”

            Eddie looked away angrily but nodded.

            Peter got another spoonful and held it out, “I thought so.”

            Eddie opened his mouth a little more willingly this time.

            “You aren’t going to get better if you keep doing this to yourself, you know.” Peter murmured, “And you’re wrong.”

            “About what? Ahh.” Eddie accepted more soup.

            “Having nothing to live for.” Peter sighed, “Eddie, you need to wake up and look around, alright? I know you’re a smart guy, you’ll figure this dilemma out and own it. You’re not worthless and you just need to find your niche, ya know?”

            Eddie finished the soup then stared at Peter, “ . . . I know what I want to live for.”

            Peter smiled encouragingly, “Good, that’s the first step to recovery and before you know it you- oof!”

            Eddie nuzzled Peter’s cheek while the brunette tried to get back off his back, Eddie had tackled him, sending the bowl and spoon flying to thankfully bounce off the carpet and not shatter, but that was the least of Peter’s woes as the much larger blonde attempted to join them via osmosis.

            “Eddie! Dude, no, get off!” Peter struggled but Eddie was still bigger and even with super spider strength, it took a lot of effort to dislodge the blonde deadweight.

            Eddie crouched back on the bed, staring at Peter, “Why?”

            “Because I explained this to you, I don’t _want_ you!” Peter stood up angrily, staring at the spilled bit of soup, “Dammit, Eddie, look what you made me do!”

            Eddie blinked slowly and stood up, looking down at Peter, “You do want me.”

            “Don’t even go there with me, body reacts to stimuli, your over-sized body rubbing on mine counts as stimuli!” Peter snapped, but blushed despite his sound logic.

            Eddie shook his head, “I didn’t touch you there.”

            “That doesn’t matter!” Peter quickly bent over to pick up the bowl and spoon and he made a hasty retreat to the kitchenette, thankful Eddie remained in the bedroom.

            The brunette leaned against the counter and sighed, glancing down at the slight bulge of his sweatpants,

            “Fat lot of help you are.”           

* * *

            Eddie sat quietly in the bedroom until the silence drove him to tears and he quickly made his way to the living room where Peter was sitting with a textbook open. Eddie tilted his head and then climbed onto the couch and pushed his way under Peter’s arm to put his head on the brunette’s chest.

            Peter blinked down at Eddie for a moment then huffed, “Eddie, off.”

            Eddie blinked then shook his head and pressed his face into the worn sweatshirt Peter was wearing.

            “Eddie, I’m trying to study! Get off!” Peter snapped and shoved Eddie.

            Eddie wrapped his arms desperately around Peter and squeezed, “It’s too quiet, please, and this helps!”

            Peter was about to shove again when he realized where Eddie’s head was, “ . . . listening to my heartbeat?”

            Eddie nodded slightly and squeezed his eyes shut.

            Peter blinked and sighed, “Okay, just let up on trying to crack my ribs, huh?”

            Eddie relaxed his arms slightly and sighed contentedly, “Okay.”

            Peter blinked then went back to reading, before long he heard Eddie snoring softly and he smiled, despite everything, he felt a kind of weird, obviously confused fondness for the big dope. Eddie seemed so lost and lonely and Peter would be lying if he said that having Eddie begging to be close all the time made him as angry as he tried to act. It was all just to try and not encourage Eddie, just keep him from thinking he could have whatever he wanted and Peter did not want to make Eddie think he was easy to take advantage of.

            Peter started when he realized that he’d been carding his fingers through Eddie’s messy blonde hair, he stared at his hand sunk into the dirty locks and he grimaced,

            “Ed, when was the last time you showered?” he murmured, wiping his hand on Eddie’s shirt which resulted in Eddie nuzzling and smiling while he dozed, “Hey, Ed, wake up.”

            Eddie blinked slowly then opened his eyes and yawned, “What?”

            “You haven’t been showering and I’m pretty sure these are the same clothes you came in. Come on, up and into the bathroom.” Peter nudged Eddie’s shoulder.

            Eddie blinked then sat up slowly, “Oh . . . I forgot you need to shower.”

            Peter furrowed his brow, “Eddie, go take a shower okay? I’ll see if I have any clean clothes that would fit you.”

            Eddie stared at Peter for a moment then nodded, “Okay.”

            Peter watched him shamble off to the bathroom and close the door, he shook his head and got up, moving to the bedroom, “I can’t believe I have to tell him to take a shower . . . guess Venom took care of that for him?”

            He pulled out some sweats that were a bit big on him and a plain black t-shirt that looked like it would fit, then he went back into the living room,

            “I don’t hear any water running, Eddie.” He called and waited for a reply only for nothing to happen, “Eddie, shower now.”

            Peter waited for a moment then huffed and went over to knock on the door,

            “Hey, Ed, you still breathing and stuff?”

            There was silence then the door opened and Eddie leaned out a bit, he was naked and looked fairly confused,

            “I don’t know how to work it.”

            Peter sighed and pushed past Eddie into the bathroom, “The shower?”

            “Yeah.” Eddie leaned on the counter.

            Peter leaned into the shower and turned on the water, “Why on Earth do you not know how to-“

            “Unimportant information.”

            “What?” Peter straightened up and put his hand under the water while it warmed up.

            “Venom sort of went in and erased things that weren’t important for survival.” Eddie explained.

            Peter stared at him for a moment, “So turning on the shower is one of the things that is unimportant for survival?”

            “Anything that doesn’t have to do with moving, eating and fucking was unimportant. That included people, phone numbers, addresses. Anything with human relations I suppose.” Eddie ran a finger over the scar on his belly and sighed, “Most of the emotions I have are ‘manufactured’ too, I’m confused and caught off-guard by some of the things I feel or how fast and hard I feel them. Anger. Frustration. Depression. They all hit me like a freight train.”

            Peter blinked and stepped away from the shower, “Alright I suppose we can work on that.”

            Eddie fidgeted and nodded, “Yeah.”

            Peter was about to leave when Eddie grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, “Oof! Eddie you really need to stop doing tha-“

            “Thanks.” Eddie said quietly, hugging onto Peter, “I don’t think I’d be okay without you.”

            Peter opened his mouth then huffed and patted Eddie’s shoulder, “Okay, you’re welcome, now get in the shower and clean up.”

            Eddie nodded and turned to the shower, Peter waited a moment then hurried out to the living room and his textbook.

            “What am I getting myself into?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what indeed, Peter? Time will tell but out of curiosity, how will Gwen feel about your new roommate in your one room apartment? Food for thought. Eddie has a few lucid moments then slips again into madness when reality hits him so I can only guess as to how Peter will help him and such close proximity is supposed to breed contempt, but maybe just the opposite?


	7. Okay, we have a plan! . . . Kinda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter finds the only strategy that seems to help him fix Eddie.

             Eddie sat back on the couch, staring down at his fingernails when Peter walked in, the brunette pushed his glasses up onto his head and furrowed his brow,

            “Eddie, did you move at all today? You were in that exact same spot when I left this morning.”

            Eddie looked up slowly and bit his lip, “It didn’t care about me, did it?”

            Peter blinked then sighed heavily and sat next to Eddie, “I thought we’ve been over this but, no . . . I don’t think so, all signs do seem in the negative.”

            Eddie bit his lip, “It . . . It’s taken a long time to understand that fact, I-I’m sorry I’m not so keen to the obvious facts.”

            Peter leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, “Do you feel better now that you’ve come to terms with that?”

            Eddie snuffled and shook his head, “No . . . I feel worse. I feel more alone now then I ever remember feeling . . . I feel so stupid and gullible for thinking any of it was real! I . . . I just want it to stop.”

            Peter grimaced and then put a hand on Eddie’s, “It’s going to be okay, hmm? Look, we’ll figure this all out and get you back on your feet.”

            Eddie stared at their hands then slid his fingers between Peter’s, tears trickling down his cheeks, “It won’t be like I thought it would be . . . “

            Peter pulled his hand away and looked at Eddie, “Jeez, you gotta stop with the waterworks, Ed, you’ll get dehydrated.”

            He quickly pulled down his sweatshirt sleeve and wiped at Eddie’s eyes,

            “Ssh, it’s okay, I’m here and you’re here and the nightmares are over, okay? Don’t cry, Eddie.”

            But Eddie couldn’t stop, he just felt so empty and used and someone was genuinely being nice to him and it just _had_ to be Peter fucking Parker, didn’t it? The joke just came full circle and hit him upside the head with a big ‘F You!’ on it. He looked up at Peter and he could see it, just a little, that teeny-tiny glimmer of something else behind the mask of indifference and pity he always wore and it was too much.

            Eddie reached out his hand and tried to touch the glimmer, tried to pull it closer to the surface so he could see it and it would be real but all he managed to do was rub Peter’s cheek with his thumb and the brunette pulled away,

            “Eddie, don’t.”

            But Eddie already established that he no longer could ‘not’ and ‘don’t’ and ‘stop’, he didn’t want to anymore, it hurt to.

            “Peter, please.” Eddie whispered, leaning forward until his head was on Peter’s chest, “Just . . . Just pretend for a minute, okay? Just pretend you care about me . . . even for a minute . . . I can’t . . . I just can’t . . . “

            Peter blinked then swallowed and cautiously put his arms around Eddie’s shoulders, hugging him at first reluctantly but then he squeezed him (not too hard, still got super human strength) protectively and Eddie relaxed.

            “Okay . . . Okay, Ed, just for a minute. If that’s what you need, I can give it to you.”

            Eddie swallowed thickly and slipped into a more comfortable position with Peter leaning on the armrest and Eddie curled up between his legs as best as the larger man could manage. He was almost drifting to sleep when Peter’s phone went off,

            “Hang on, Eddie, I need to get that.”

            Eddie sat up and watched Peter as the brunette grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket and answered,

            “Hello? Yeah, I’m alright, I just got in a minute ago actually.” Peter glanced at Eddie who hadn’t moved then turned back around, “ . . . wait, tonight? Um, no, no that isn’t a problem, I just uh, have a friend over here at the moment and- um, do you remember that one I talked to you about? Y-Yeah, that one, well he’s here now and I- oh . . . yeah sure, I don’t think he’d mind if you’re not bothered by . . . okay then I’ll see you tonight. Alright, love you, bye.”

            Peter hung up then sighed, turning to look at Eddie who had moved to sit in a corner of the room next to the couch,

            “Ed?”

            “ . . . she’s coming over, isn’t she?”

            Peter grimaced and moved to sit on the couch, “Yep.”

            “She knows about me?”

            There was a moment where Peter tried to come up with some way to deflect this particular conversation but came up blank,

            “Well . . . I told her you were in an abusive relationship and that I was trying to get you out. She gave me some advice and I followed it.” Peter murmured, looking down at the cell phone in his hand.

            “ . . . what’d she tell you to do?”

            Peter leaned over to peek at the corner, but Eddie was still pressing his face into it, “She said that if I was your friend I had to be there for you and get you out as soon as possible, to keep you safe and look after you.”

            Eddie bit his lip and closed his eyes, “Oh.”

            “See why I love her?” Peter asked, half-joking and half-dead-serious.

            Eddie covered his head with his arms, “And she’s coming here tonight?”

            “We planned on going on a date but she said we shouldn’t leave you alone in case Ve- er, your _boyfriend_ comes looking for you. Safety in numbers is what she said.” Peter sighed heavily.

            Eddie shook his head, “I don’t want her here.”

            “I didn’t want us to stick around here to spend the entire evening with you glaring at Gwen, trying to cuddle with me, and effectively cock-blocking us, but that looks like what is going to happen.” Peter muttered, glaring in Eddie’s direction, “So my date is officially shot, thanks.”

            Eddie swallowed and stood up, “Then I’ll go.”

            Peter’s eyebrow rose, “What?”

            “I’ll just . . . I’ll go. You don’t want me here and frankly I don’t want to have to see you and Gwen holding hands or kissing or whatever because that would hurt so fucking _bad_ and being in the same tiny apartment as you is agony when you won’t let me touch you without being pushed away or yelled at when all I want is to feel someone _touch_ me . . . so I’ll go away. It hurts too much to be here . . . _you_ hurt too much.” Eddie swallowed again and glanced at the door.

            Peter blinked then shook his head, “You won’t survive out there on your own, you have nowhere else to live, no money, no job and no memory of how to even function like a normal person. Besides, Gwen would ask questions if you _weren’t_ here after I just told her you would be here.”

            Eddie looked at Peter, “Like I care if you lie to her about where I am? You lie about everything else to her. Tell her you took me to a safehouse or the precinct, tell her I went back to my ‘boyfriend’ . . . you’re good at making excuses.”

            Peter stared at Eddie then stood up, “Don’t be stupid, you won’t survive out there. Just stay, alright?”

            Eddie blinked then his eyes narrowed, “No.”

            “Don’t be-“

            “No.” Eddie snapped and started for the door, “I pour my heart out and you just have to _stomp_ on it and then tell me how pathetic I am! I’m leaving!”

            Peter shot forward and got in front of Eddie, putting himself between the blonde and the door, “Eddie, think about this for a moment, I know you’re frustrated and confused by being here but where would you go? I’ve got a place for you to sleep, food, heat and running water here, I’m not telling you to leave and I really, really don’t want to have to worry about you because whether I like you or not, you’re my responsibility now and as a hero I have this nagging, incredibly irritating sense of duty that’s telling me to take care of you, okay?”

            Eddie blinked and closed his eyes, letting his head hang, “ . . . you feel bad for me.”

            “Yes, I do, I feel horrible that you’re so far gone that you didn’t even remember you need to bathe yourself. I feel awful when you’re crying and scared because there _aren’t_ voices in your head. And I can’t stand it that I beat Venom and he’s still winning right now, that he’s still in control even though he’s gone.” Peter pressed himself against the door, “Eddie, I have never felt so helpless to save someone like this in my entire life, not since Uncle Ben.”

            Eddie’s head snapped up and he gaped at Peter, he remembered what ‘Uncle Ben’ was, or rather, _who_ he was and who he was to Peter and how much that death had destroyed Peter. Eddie’s eyes watered and he looked away,

            “Petey . . . I-I’m sorry.” He murmured, closing his eyes, “I don’t . . . I didn’t mean for you to feel that way.”

            Peter looked at the floor and swallowed, “You have to know that I don’t just see you as some pathetic thing that needs me to fix it, you’re a person, Eddie, and I do care about you, I don’t just pity you, I really just want to help because I know that Venom took so much away from you that even you don’t remember but, I want to help you put the pieces back together as best as they’ll fit.”

            Eddie swallowed and moved forward, his hand outstretched and hovering just inches from Peter’s head then it dropped and he took a step back,

            “I love you.” He whispered, not looking at Peter.

            Peter nodded slowly, “I know.”

            “I can’t stop . . . it’s the only thing that feels real.” Eddie licked his lips.

            “I know.”

            “I just . . . I just wish it was real for you too.” Eddie turned and went into the bathroom and closed the door.

            Peter leaned against the door for a few more minutes then went into the kitchenette and rummaged around for something to feed Eddie and Gwen. He was mindlessly pulling things out of the cupboard and setting them on the counter for a few moments then he stopped and pressed his hands down on the counter and took a shuddering breath. He glanced over his shoulder but Eddie wasn’t there, he was still in the bathroom, but the water was running now. Peter swallowed thickly and glanced at what he’d taken out for eats, he almost laughed at the box of Chex cereal (Eddie only likes Fruit Loops for some reason so he never eats Peter’s cereal), pancake mix (Eddie likes waffles better even though they’re pretty much the same thing), two cans of chili (Eddie loves the stuff but it makes him a little . . . aromatic), and a jar of peanut butter (Eddie puts peanut butter on EVERYTHING).

            Peter shook his head and put it all away again, running a hand through his hair, the water was still running . . . the brunette huffed and went to the bathroom, knocking on the door,

            “Eddie, what are you doing in there?”

            There was, of course, no answer, Peter sighed and knocked again,

            “Eddie, if you don’t answer, I’m coming in.”

            As expected, Eddie didn’t respond so Peter, after gathering what was left of his frazzled brain, pushed the door open. Eddie was sitting in the bathtub as it filled with steaming water, his clothes were strewn about the floor, Peter stood in the doorway and just looked at him, Eddie had the look of someone with nothing left and it hurt to look at him. And that surprised Peter, he didn’t expect it to hurt simply to see Eddie so lost, but it did . . . it was confusing and strange but Peter found himself sitting down next to the tub and getting a washcloth wet and soapy.

            Eddie didn’t blink when the water turned off, half of him really thinking that it was okay because Venom had gotten it and even as a warm washcloth ran over his shoulders and back, he kept up the delusion that Venom was cleaning him. It was easier to explain away all the hurt and sadness when he let himself live in a daydream, pretend that Venom hadn’t used him up and left him, that he hadn’t failed at taking care of the eggs, that he was being told he was a good Host and that he was adored because the most beautiful lie was so much easier for Eddie to hear then the horrible truth that he knew was waiting for him just on the edge of the dream.

            Eddie closed his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks, he leaned into the cloth as it ran over his skin, tingly and sensitive from the hot water, and he lifted an arm when prompted or leaned forward when directed, anything to keep the touches happening and force reality to stay back. He cried while he was comforted by his game of make-believe and the cloth when it dipped down to get at his feet and legs and he whimpered like a child when a hand ran over his shoulders and pulled him closer to the wall of the tub, pressing his forehead into a warm shoulder while the cloth swept between his legs, making him shudder and parts of him stirred in the water.

            Then Venom spoke.

            “It’s alright, Eddie . . . I’m here, I’ve got you.”

            Only there was no hiss and Venom said ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ or ‘us’, but Eddie didn’t want to wake up yet, not just yet when he was just becoming less hurt and more content. He nuzzled into the warmth and felt something brush his forehead and Venom murmured in his ear,

            “ . . . you’re so broken and I want to fix you so badly.”

            Why was Venom saying this? Eddie wasn’t broken if Venom was there holding him together . . . and it’s speech pattern had changed again. Eddie squeezed his eyes shut when the cloth disappeared and instead a tentacle wrapped around his erect cock . . . but wait, wait . . . Eddie swallowed and gripped the tub’s rim, the tentacle was more solid than it should be and warmer . . . it didn’t slip and engulf his flesh like it would normally, it held shape and that didn’t make sense. Maybe he should ask Venom about that . . .

            “I know what you want from me, and I don’t know why but . . . I want to give it to you. I want you to smile and laugh and stop crying. I want you to feel safe and not confused or lost. I want you to be the asinine jerk that I remember, I want you to stop hurting so much . . . I know why I want to fix you, and . . . I know how to fix you.”

            Eddie slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Venom but it wasn’t Venom, it was Peter. Peter was holding him and Peter was fondling him in the water. Eddie blinked then thought this must still be a daydream because Peter didn’t do these kinds of things or say these kinds of things to Eddie, Peter told Eddie to get off or stop, Peter told Eddie how much he didn’t like him but wouldn’t let him leave. Peter loved Gwen and kissed Gwen and probably fondled Gwen, not Eddie, even when Eddie just wanted to remember how it felt for someone to touch him there with warm fingers not pulsing, alien tentacles. Eddie loved Peter . . . Eddie loved Peter so much that it hurt and this delusion hurt more than anything, more than Peter’s continual rejections, more than being alone at night in the room, more than . . .

            “Peter . . . “ Eddie whispered, reaching up to put his arms around Peter’s waist, “Please . . . “

            “It’s okay, Eddie, I’ll put you back together . . . “ Peter murmured, pressing his lips against Eddie’s forehead, “I’ll fix what Venom destroyed.”

            Eddie shivered, “ . . . why?”

            Peter closed his eyes, stroking his thumb over the head of Eddie’s cock, “Because you love me.”

            Eddie swallowed and nodded, turning his head into Peter’s shirt, his hips pushed slowly up, making the water ripple and Peter pumped his cock faster. The blonde bit his lip and pulled his legs up, pushing for it, he wanted it . . . he wanted this so badly . . . he . . . he-

            “Peter . . . Peter, I’m going to cum.” Eddie murmured.

            Peter nodded and hugged Eddie tighter, “It’s okay, go ahead.”

            Eddie grimaced then gasped and came, he breathed heavily and Peter carefully helped Eddie out of the water and pulled the plug. The smaller brunette grabbed a towel and gently dried Eddie off,

            “Come on, let’s get you in something besides sweats.” He took Eddie’s hand and led the bigger man into the bedroom.

            Eddie stood in the middle of the room in a daze, he wasn’t quite sure what to feel about all of this, was it everything he wanted? . . . maybe? Then why wasn’t he overjoyed about it, even if it was not _exactly_ what he wanted? He put on the boxers Peter handed him then stood still again.

            “Here, try these on.”

            Eddie blinked at the jeans that Peter held out then pulled them on, they were a bit tight in the butt otherwise they fit just fine. Peter handed him a shirt and Eddie put it on without question.

            Once Eddie was dressed, Peter stood back and looked him over,

            “Eddie, are you okay?” He asked gently.

            Eddie nodded slowly, “Yes, I’m fine, I just . . . wasn’t expecting any of that.” He gestured toward the bedroom doorway, indicating the bathroom.

            Peter nodded, “I know, but I figured that by pushing you away and denying you affection wasn’t . . . well, it wasn’t working, you weren’t getting better, so . . . I’m helping you the only way I can see how. Eddie, I don’t hate you, I don’t want you to go, and it’ll be okay.”

            Eddie blinked, then hesitantly took Peter’s hand and Peter let him, “ . . . Peter?”

            “Yeah?”

            “Please fix me.”

            “I’m gonna do my best.” Peter reached up and pulled Eddie into his arms.

            Eddie gripped Peter’s shirt tightly and inhaled deeply, this felt better.

* * *

              Gwen arrived five minutes after she said she would and spent another five apologizing for being late, she smiled warmly at Eddie and shook his hand, she shook her head adoringly when Peter admitted there wasn’t a whole lot of food to cook for all three of them, then she ordered Chinese and suggested a movie.

            They sat on the couch together, Gwen and Peter at one end and Eddie sitting by himself at the other. He fidgeted uncomfortably when Gwen got up to get the door, but Peter reached over and stroked his fingers over Eddie’s shoulder,

            “Hey, relax, okay?” Peter whispered, “She doesn’t bite.”

            Eddie sighed but brightened up when he was passed a take-out carton and two spring rolls.  

            Later on after the movie, Eddie volunteered to clean up the food containers and this afforded Gwen and Peter some alone time.

            Gwen kissed Peter and smiled at him, “It was really nice of you to let Eddie stay here. He looks really on edge.”

            Peter grimaced, “Well, his boyfriend isn’t the forgiving type, he seems to be refusing to let Eddie forget.”

            “Are you sure you shouldn’t involve the police?” Gwen asked softly, looking up to see what Eddie was doing.

            “ . . . Gwen, Eddie really doesn’t want that kind of attention.” Peter murmured, gesturing to his mouth in reference to Eddie’s own toothy jaws.

            “Oh, poor thing.” She frowned and shook her head, “Well, for what it’s worth, he seems to feel really safe here with you.”

            Peter smiled, “Well, what can I say? I just exude macho protectiveness and security.”

* * *

              The night went fairly well, Gwen engaged Eddie in as much conversation as he could manage, he couldn’t answer what he did for a living (Peter kindly interjected with ‘unemployed’) or his hobbies or really any of the things normal people should engage in (Peter explained it away by saying Eddie’s boyfriend had been very overbearing and controlling and kept Eddie on a tight leash).

            Gwen said good night with a kiss at about ten, hugged a very awkward Eddie, and declined an escort home or a ride or really anything, smiled, then left. Peter waited all of five seconds before hurrying to his room. Eddie followed after and was just in time for Peter to throw off his shirt and pull on his costume,

            “Stalking her? She just was here.”

            “I’m just going to follow Gwen and make sure she gets home safely.” Peter muttered, tugging his mask on.

            Eddie shifted his weight to the other foot, “Oh.”

            Peter turned to look at Eddie, “It’ll take five minutes then I’ll be back, alright?”

            Eddie nodded slowly, “Yep.”

            “Okay.”

            “Okay.”

            “I’m going now.”

            “I know.”

            “Out the window, down the fire escape.”

            “Sounds good.”

            “Maybe swing by the corner store, do you want anything?”

            “A better pun.”

            “I’m serious.”

            “No. She’s going to be harder to track if you keep stalling.”

            “I’m not stalling.”

            “Well, what do you call this?”

            “I’m just making sure there isn’t something you want from the corner store.”

            “That I am more than capable of getting myself.”

            “Okay.”

            “Okay.”

            “Are you sure you-“

            “Peter, go!”

            “Alright, alright, you don’t have to push!”

            Eddie watched Peter leap out the window and swing off to follow his girlfriend. The blonde moved to the bed and sat down to wait for Peter to get back and wondered about this, Peter said he was going to fix Eddie, he was going to give Eddie what he needed but he was still kissing Gwen and following Gwen home . . . he wasn’t here getting ready for bed and cuddling in the bed with Eddie.

            “ . . . but I’m happy.” Eddie asserted to himself.

* * *

              Ten minutes later, Peter swung in through the open window and landed in front of Eddie,

            “She get home safe?” Eddie asked softly.

            Peter pulled off his mask, “I don’t know. I lost track of her and spent the whole time getting to her apartment only to find out that she was staying with a friend, I guess. So did she make it there safe, yes, home, no.”

            “Oh.” Eddie huffed, “So . . . bed now?”

            Peter blinked as he peeled off his costume, “Yeah.”

            Eddie fidgeted, “You gonna sleep on the couch again?”

            Peter stopped hanging the costume up in his closet and bit his lip, “Well, to be honest my back is starting to hurt from doing that so, if you don’t mind, I’d like the bed.”

            Eddie nodded, “Okay so I’ll hit the couch.”

            “I didn’t say you had to do that. The bed is big enough for the both of us.” Peter pulled on his pajamas.

            Eddie’s eyebrows rose and he swallowed, “ . . . together?”

            “Yep. Is that okay?” Peter turned around and cocked his head.

            Eddie’s heart raced, ‘okay’? ‘Okay’? It was more than okay, it was the thing that Eddie wanted more than anything! He wanted Peter to be there in the bed with him, to maybe roll over and touch Peter or hold him while the brunette slept. He wanted it so badly that he didn’t even realize he was nodding his head rapidly until Peter chuckled and put his hands on either side of Eddie’s face,

            “Okay, okay, before your head bobbles off.”

            Eddie blinked, “right.”

            Peter turned and went into the bathroom, Eddie could hear him brushing his teeth so he quickly changed into his jammies and followed after Peter. Eddie brushed his teeth then followed Peter back into the bedroom, watching while the brunette turned down the bed and climbed in. Eddie turned off the light and got into the bed next to Peter, he rolled onto his side, facing away from Peter, and tried to sleep. It was difficult with the object of his undying worship lying next to him but he felt his eyes slowly closing and was just sinking into sleep when an arm draped over his waist and Peter whispered,

            “Good night, Eddie.”

            Eddie blinked as Peter scooted closer to him, “N-Night, Petey.”

           


	8. Broken Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Eddie are strained under the weight of the lie. And quick-dry concrete isn't nearly as strong as previously thought.

             Eddie opened his eyes and grimaced, he was really warm and he had to pee something fierce, he kicked off the blankets to try and cool off but was startled by a muffled groan. He blinked and sat up only to stare down at Peter in confusion, what was the brunette doing in bed with hi- . . . oh yeah.

            Eddie blinked again and reached out his hand to stroke Peter’s forehead, brushing some of his hair out of the way. Big brown eyes fluttered open and stared up at Eddie,

            “You know, the last time I woke up to you, you brought me eggs and toast.”

            Eddie scoffed, “And you told me to leave.”

            Peter sighed and closed his eyes again, “That was before I became determined to babysit you.”

            “Having second thoughts?” Eddie asked, shifting to sprawl out on top of the blankets next to Peter, propping his head up on his arm.

            Peter rolled over to be facing Eddie and sighed, “ . . . no, I’m not. You need me.”

            “Good. I didn’t like it before.” Eddie leaned up and kissed Peter’s forehead, “I’ll get breakfast going, I can at least do that without ruining everything.”

            Peter watched Eddie leave and huffed, rolling onto his back, he stared up at the ceiling for a while and grimaced. He didn’t have regrets, what he did have was guilt, confusion, and this weird, reverse Stockholm-syndrome going on, Peter sat up and stared out the window, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and he got up.

            Peter shuffled out of the bedroom and leaned on the doorway, Eddie was making breakfast and mumbling to himself; this was a moment where insanity reigned for the blonde, he couldn’t be safely left alone for too long otherwise he’d talk to himself a lot and the voices in his head (or lack there of as the case had been lately) gave him weird, paranoid ideas, sometimes suggesting things to him that made Peter want to hide the sharp and pointy objects.

            “Hey.”

            Eddie snapped out of whatever conversation he was holding with himself and smiled quickly, he turned his head in Peter’s direction and made a show of getting plates,

            “Hey yourself, wanna get the toast?”

            Peter nodded and went over to the toaster, he could bet his Spidey suit that Eddie wasn’t aware that he often spoke his own thoughts out-loud. Peter wondered if Eddie had any inkling that Peter knew everything; for example, last night while Eddie was in the tub, Peter had heard him mumbling about how ‘it was easier to explain away all the hurt and sadness when he let himself live in a daydream, pretend that Venom hadn’t used him up and left him, that he hadn’t failed at taking care of the eggs, that he was being told he was a good Host and that he was adored because the most beautiful lie was so much easier for Eddie to hear then the horrible truth that he knew was waiting for him just on the edge of the dream.’.

            Probably not seeing as Eddie was mumbling again, something to the affect of ‘Why did she have to come over last night?’ and followed with the ever present, ‘I love him, I love Peter-fucking-Parker.’. Peter couldn’t ignore this behavior forever and he had been thankful that Eddie had kept the mumbling quiet while Gwen had been over, probably too nervous or upset by her presence to even think straight. But, without the mumbling, Peter might still have been stuck on how to fix Eddie, it hadn’t taken long to figure out, what had taken Peter forever was admitting to himself that nothing else would work and it would turn out okay.

            Peter’s thoughts were interrupted by arms wrapping around his stomach and lips on the back of his neck, he stopped buttering the fourth slice of toast and set the butter knife down,

            “What’s up?” He asked carefully, listening intently for anything that Eddie would say without meaning to.

            “ . . . I love you.”

            “I know.” Peter said gently, “Are the eggs done?”

            “Yeh. Peter?”

            “Hm?”

            “Um,” Here Peter heard Eddie lick his lips then felt Eddie nuzzle his shoulder, “ . . . Why are you still with Gwen?”

            Peter closed his eyes and sighed heavily, “Eddie, we talked about this, okay? Gwen and I love each other; you’re here under extreme circumstances and I don’t intend for you to be here forever.”

            There was silence then Eddie started mumbling again,

            “He’ll never admit it, I know he loves me . . . why won’t he let me? He won’t touch me unless I beg, but . . . is that what I really want? Will he kick me out when he thinks I’m all better? Will Venom come back? I just don’t know . . . I don’t know if I could take it I mean, I really really care about Peter.” Eddie sighed heavily and spoke up, “I know.”

            “You know but you don’t like it.” Peter corrected.

            “ . . . right.”

            “Eddie, the eggs?”

            “They’re dead.”

            Peter started, he hadn’t been talking about _those eggs_ in fact, Eddie mumbled about them so rarely he was certain the blonde had all but forgotten them. Peter bit his lip and was about to turn around when Eddie let him go and wandered off to the living room,

            “I’m . . . I’m not very hungry anymore.” He mumbled and curled up on the couch, wrapping the blanket from the back of the couch around himself.

            Peter could barely make out the mumbling now but it didn’t matter, he could get Eddie to eat anyway. He piled the eggs and toast on two plates then went into the living room and set the plates on the coffee table,

            “Eddie.”

            “Yeh?”

            “Time to stop being a sad turtle and come out.” Peter poked the bundle.

            “ . . . I know what you’re thinking,” Eddie stuck his head out of the blanket, “You’re thinking you need to sit me down like a little kid and tell me _again_ that the eggs were going to kill me and that they just _had_ to come out or I wouldn’t be here today. You’re going to tell me that it’s okay now and that I need to eat so I can get better.”

            Peter’s eyebrow rose, “More or less.”

            “Okay, then skip the lecture and go to the part where you hug me and let me listen to your heartbeat so I won’t feel like I’m utterly alone, alright?” Eddie murmured.

            Peter did as asked and sighed, “Our breakfast is going to get cold at this rate.”

            “You really don’t get it.”

            Peter closed his eyes patiently, “No, I think I do.”

            “No, you don’t, see, I had two purposes for Venom, just two, one was to be obedient and stay alive and the other, according to you, was to be a snack for its offspring to eat on their first birthday, I was literally the cake . . . but that was _my_ purpose, its all I know . . . all I knew. Peter, please, just . . . just try to understand that I’m not _mourning_ for the eggs,” here Eddie sat up and huffed, “I’m not sorry they’re gone or that they aren’t bursting out of my stomach like the Alien movie-“

            “Technically, the xenomorphs burst out of the chest.” Peter corrected.

            “I’ve been planning out this ‘I’m not _that_ broken’ speech for ten seconds, let me finish,” Eddie crossed his arms and Peter gave him the hand wave of ‘do continue’, “Anyway, I’m not sad about that, really I’m past the whole ‘oh my gods, my babies!’ stage, this is more the ‘that was my purpose now it’s gone’ stage and I’m trying to cope with that, okay?”

            Peter nodded slowly, “Okay, I get it, Ed, but will you please eat something?”

            Eddie sighed and sat back on the couch, “Yeah, okay, I didn’t cook all the eggs just to let them get cold I guess.”

            Peter and Eddie ate in relative silence, as Eddie couldn’t mumble with his mouth full. Then Peter got dressed and ran off to work or whatever and Eddie was left alone.

            “Okay, he’s gone.” He murmured and stood up, he wasn’t feeling really all that well, in fact he was downright sick, but not puking sick, more like the ‘I have a really bad feeling’ sick.

            Eddie moved about the apartment, picking up things and putting them away, taking care of the dishes, and then went and got changed into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt (Peter had gone to St. Vinny’s or Goodwill . . . TJ Maxx, whatever to get Eddie some clothes that actually fit him pretty well). He was just leaving the bedroom when he tripped on something.

            “Ah!” Eddie groaned, he’d caught himself on his hands and that felt just lovely.

            The blonde grimaced and tried to get up and see what had been on the floor in the first place, but he couldn’t seem to move his lower half. Eddie, not one given to panicking in strange and/or stressful situations, slowly, carefully rolled himself over only to cry out in fear.

            _Did Hossst Eddie missss usss?_

Venom hissed as it slowly engulfed Eddie, hissing and chuckling as the human tried to wriggle free,

            _Sssilly Eddie, we need it. The humansss broke the block and we found a way to it. Now we can be one forever!_

“N-No! No! I’m getting better! I don’t want you! Stop it! Let me go!” Eddie tried to get up, to reach his phone on the counter, anything! But Venom undulated and flexed over his legs as if he wasn’t fighting him with everything he had.

            _Yesss but Eddie needsss usss, the eggsss need usss. Yesss they-_

Here Venom was quiet and didn’t move, Eddie didn’t move either as fear flooded his entire psyche and he knew that Venom could feel that and the other thing Venom could feel was the absence of the eggs. The symbiote seemed shocked and didn’t move for a moment then it spoke,

            _What hasss it done?_

“Venom . . . they’re-they’re gone.” Eddie squeezed his eyes shut and held perfectly still, Venom was going to kill him, he just knew it.

            _. . . Gone? What doesss it mean, ‘gone’?_

“They’ve been removed.” Eddie gasped as tendrils wrapped around his chest and neck, squeezing him until breathing was difficult and screaming for help was impossible.

            _. . . we sssee. Ssso Hossst hasss betrayed usss? Ssso sssad for poor Eddie! Perhapsss you are wrong bait for the ssspider? Perhapsss the blonde female wasss bessst choiccce to lure ssstrong ssspider? Ssso sssad, we thought our young would love sssweet Eddie’sss sssweet flesssh._

Eddie struggled again as his air was being cut off then he could breathe again and Venom was chuckling, Eddie watched deliriously as the symbiote seemed to come up with an even better idea, it covered the blonde’s hands and shaped them into claws. Eddie blinked as his hands moved without him controlling them and the tips of the claws sliced into Eddie’s wrist. Eddie cried out weakly as scarlet Rorschach's of blood soaked into his sweatshirt sleeve, then the other was sliced open and Venom chuckled in his head,

            _Sssleep, Eddie, sssleep. It will sssleep and Venom will hunt, yesss!_

Eddie flopped his arms uselessly as Venom settled along his throat and cut off the blood to his brain, he felt himself slipping and the room was spinning even as it darkened,

            “ . . . Petey . . . “ 

* * *

            Peter sat at his little desk coding some schematics for Tony, “Heh, think those holograms just pop into existence, eh? Nope, some poor schmuck has to first code the program so you can use those stupid holograms to then show only five people them and NEVER use them again. Yay, I love my life.”

            “Peter, muttering is really unattractive.”

            Peter looked up and smiled tiredly, “Hey, Dr. Banner.”

            Bruce leaned on the desk and smiled, “Hey, how are you?”

            “I think you really want to ask is how Eddie is.” Peter sighed, “But I’m fine, just trying to maintain some semblance of sanity.”

            “Real pain in the ass, sanity,” Bruce nodded sagely, “To answer the first non-question, yes, I would like to know how Eddie is.”

            Peter shook his head, “I think . . . I think I’m messing him up worse than before. I thought I could handle him but . . . well, I may have made a huge mistake.”

            “He hasn’t hurt you or anyone, has he?” Bruce pulled up a spare chair and sat down, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

            “ . . . no, ya see the thing is, he’s . . . kind of in . . . love with me.” Peter mumbled, taking his glasses off.

            “Oh, wow, okay, well, not my area of expertise but then again, I don’t think there’s anyone here I can refer you to here at Avenger’s HQ . . . what do you think about it?” Bruce grimaced and sat back in the chair.

            “Honestly, I don’t know. At first I was pissed because I thought it was just Venom using him and I’m already dating Gwen and all that jazz but lately . . . Bruce, can I be totally honest with you?”

            “Sure, Peter.” Bruce furrowed his brow.

            Peter took his glasses off and rubbed his forehead, “Bruce, I . . . I’m not in love with him, I don’t want a relationship with him, and I really want my own space back . . . but, I feel so bad for him and kind of responsible too, I want to fix him and put the old Eddie back together, maybe a little less of a jerk but you know what I mean. I want to help him and frankly, I’ve . . . I’ve gotten kind of . . . attached to our, er, _arrangement_. I like having him around even though I want him to leave, I want him to stay even as he’s putting a strain on my own life, and I want him close even though I’m more than certain he needs to keep away from me.”

            Bruce nodded, “It’s really hard to be close to someone even though you know its bad for them.”

            Peter blinked at Bruce then grimaced, “I must sound so petty to you.”

            “No, you sound like a man that wants to do the right thing without the consequences or baggage that the ‘right thing’ carries around with it. Look, Peter, Eddie needs help, but it doesn’t have to be just your help, if he’s too much for you, then bring him here, we can give him the kind of medical attention he needs and if he needs a little psychiatric, well, a _lot_ of psychiatric, then we can arrange that.” Bruce reached out and put a hand on Peter’s shoulder, “Don’t take him to the police, they can’t help him and I think being in a cage would not be good for Eddie. If he’s too much for you right now, we’re always here to help you out.”

            Peter bit his lip and sighed, “I’ll . . . I’ll have to think about it, Bruce. For whatever it’s worth, Eddie trusts me and better or worse, I don’t think I have the heart to take that away from him.”

            “Understood, just keep me updated.” Bruce smiled reassuringly and stood to leave.

            “Oh, hey, uh, Bruce?”

            Bruce turned around, “Yes?”

            “What did you do with the eggs?” Peter pushed his glasses back onto his nose.

            Bruce grimaced, “I couldn’t find a way to destroy them, they’re very resilient and seem to be made of the same biological material as Venom, which I think is rather obvious.”

            “Oh.” Peter grimaced, glancing at his watch uneasily.

            “Every method I used they pretty much bounced back from. Incidentally, how’d you take out Venom? Maybe I could use that method.” Bruce put his hands in his pockets and tilted his head.

            Peter swallowed and shifted his weight, “I . . . I didn’t, I just encased it in quick-dry concrete.”

            Bruce frowned, “ . . . Where?”

            “In a warehouse or something like it.” Peter grimaced, “Why?”

            Bruce’s frown deepened, “Because Nat and Tony just got back from checking out a contractor’s storage building where fifteen people were ripped to. Peter, I think you need to leave the schematics for someone else and don your Spidey suit. Venom may very well be back on the prowl.” 

* * *

            Peter didn’t need telling twice, he leaped into action (literally) and careened back out of the building, swinging as fast as he could and only slowing slightly when he heard thrusters coming up behind him,

            “Hey, kiddo.”

            “Mr. Stark.” Peter didn’t even glance at Iron Man as he kept pace with the webhead.

            “It doesn’t look good, Bruce checked with me on what you said and I gotta hand it to ya, good try, but it wasn’t good enough.”

            “I know.”

            “Any idea where we could find tall, dark, and slimy?”

            “I have an idea alright, but I want to make sure first.” Peter landed on the storage building’s roof and shimmied down the wall.

            Black Widow turned and waved him over, “This is where you cinder-blocked Venom?”

            “Yeah, what happened?” Peter asked, a little frantic and out of breath.

            “It looks like the contractors wanted to bust up the block, probably to get it out of the way since they didn’t put it there. If it is the one that Venom was in then the rest kind of explains itself.” Tony touched down and his face-plate folded up, “Venom must have chowed down on all the workers to get his strength back, found a new host and now he’s gone. He could be anywhere and anyone, the only thing we can do is search endlessly in one of the biggest cities in the country or wait for him to make the first move.”

            Peter swallowed, “I know where he’ll go first. I’ll check in with you guys later, alright? I gotta make sure of something.”

            “Okay, Peter, we-“

            Natasha didn’t get to finish as Peter threw himself up into the air and swung off.

* * *

             Peter scaled his apartment building wall and worked the window of his living room open, “Eddie!”

            There was no response and Eddie _never_ left the apartment without him, so . . .

            Peter pulled off his mask, “Eddie, I-“

            He rounded the doorway into the bedroom only to trip on something, he barely caught himself in time before he would have landed on-

            “Eddie!” Peter quickly got himself in order and sat on the floor, noting that there were two reddish-brown spots in the carpeting under either of Eddie’s arms now, the brunette quickly figured out where that came from and frantically checked for a pulse. There was one, but it was very weak, “Okay, okay . . . right, okay . . . “

            Peter carefully picked Eddie up, carrying him to the bathroom then setting him down sitting up on the floor, propped Eddie up on the wall, and removed the blood-stained sweatshirt.

            “Okay, um, okay . . . Eddie, I’ll just clean you up first, okay? I’ll clean you up and call Tony, he’ll get you to the Tower really fast and Bruce will patch you up and . . . and everything will be fine.” Peter found himself desperately whispering this all to the clearly incoherent Eddie while he wiped at the deep gashes in Eddie’s arms, but it was clear by the pallor of the blonde’s skin that he’d lost a lot of blood and the wounds were still oozing sluggishly and his hands were white, they’d practically been severed off . . .

            Peter swallowed and pulled his cellphone out (once more grateful he’d thought to make pockets in his suit) and dialed with shaky fingers,

            “H-Hey, uh, Tony, I know you don’t n-normally make housecalls but, um, Eddie . . . he’s here and he . . . he . . . Tony, please help . . . he looks like he cut himself and he almost bled out and I-I don’t know what to do.” Peter wiped at his eyes and lifted Eddie’s eyelids, “Y-Yeah, they’re dilated, wh-what do I do? Okay . . . okay I can . . . y-yes, my apartment. Okay, th-thank you, Tony, please . . . please hurry.”

            Peter quickly hung up and started to dig through his first-aid kit, pulling out any bandages he could find and tried to pack the wounds to stop the bleeding. It was really, really difficult with his fingers shaking this badly and his eyes kept misting over with tears. There was a rap on the window by the living room, Peter hopped up and hurried to let Tony in,

            “Where is he?” Tony asked, his voice graver than Peter could ever remember hearing it.

            Peter pointed at the bathroom and followed when Tony hurried in,

            “Can you-“

            “I don’t know, Pete, he’s in a bad way. I’ll try to hurry him to the Tower as gently as I can but . . . it doen’t look good for him.”

            Peter nodded and watched Tony carefully lift Eddie off the floor and to the window, “Wh-What do I do?”

            “Get your stuff together and follow after me, if he makes it, he’ll want to see you first, I imagine.” Tony turned and rocketed out the window.

            Peter took a deep, shuddering breath then pulled on his mask and leaped after his boss.

* * *

            “How is he?”

            “Not good.”

            “And Peter?”

            “I thought that was who we were talking about.” Bruce looked at Tony.

            They were standing in the doorway of Eddie’s room in the Tower, Eddie had been rushed in and they’d done all they could, now it was just a matter of waiting to see if Eddie would pull through.

            Tony shook his head, “Fair enough.”

            “Eddie probably won’t make it, he’s lost way too much blood.” Bruce said softly, “At this point, I don’t know.”

            Peter was sitting next to Eddie’s bedside, his hands clasped in front of his face while he listened to Tony and Bruce slowly walk away, the brunette glanced over his hands at Eddie and sighed,

            “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Eddie, I should have made sure it really was dead. I should have at least told the Avengers where it was so they could handle it, so now Venom’s out there again and that puts you in danger . . . I’m so fucking dense sometimes and worse, I left you all alone and this is what happened. Why did you do it? Why would you do this when we’re so close? I thought I had this, I thought I could fix you. I was wrong and I’m so sorry, Eddie, I lied to you about my feelings . . . but I’m good at that, that’s what you said, isn’t it? I’m good at lying to those I care about and . . . to myself.” Peter swallowed thickly and reached out to touch Eddie’s cheek, “But you figured it out, didn’t you? You knew the whole time I was pretending . . . so you tried to kill yourself . . . I . . . “

            Eddie didn’t move, he already looked dead and if the heart monitor didn’t constantly beep, Peter might have thought he was exactly that. Peter stood up,

            “I think you’re better off here, away from me and my lies . . . and I’m better off without you too.”

            He left the room without looking back.


	9. You can't escape me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie pulls through but refuses to let go and Peter doesn't really mind.

             Eddie woke up terrified and feeling heavy, the kind of heavy where even his eyelids wouldn’t work, but he didn’t have to see to feel a sense of foreboding. Was he dead? Was Venom watching him even now, waiting to see if he’d survived? Was he still on the floor in Peter’s apartment? Had Peter found him . . . ?

            Eddie tried to wake up but it was difficult, his eyes tried to open but all he could manage was little more than slits to peek through. He wasn’t in Peter’s apartment and that was the first thing to panic about, next was the beeping of a heart monitor, the guy standing with a clipboard and labcoat that looked vaguely familiar and let’s not forget the absence of Peter.

            Dr. Banner turned and noted the heart monitor spiking, “Hey there, glad to see you're still with us.”

            “ . . . wh . . . “ Eddie swallowed, his throat felt oddly full, like he had something caught in there.

            “Don’t try to speak, you have a crushed larynx from strangulation, it’ll heal it just needs time, alright?” Bruce sat down on the edge of Eddie’s bed, “We’ve already given you a transfusion to replace the blood you lost and fluids. So that’s the medical portion now tell me how you’re feeling otherwise.”

            Bruce handed Eddie the clipboard and pen but Eddie just stared blankly at it, he was supposed to do something with this, wasn’t he? He blinked then looked at Bruce in confusion, he was too tired for this.

            “Uh . . . huh. Okay, well, you just rest for a bit and I’ll be back to check on you.” Bruce got up and left the room, thus leaving Eddie alone.

            Eddie managed to slowly get himself sitting up and he hugged his knees, where was he? He remembered . . . Venom, but not much else, at least he tried not to remember anything from that point of time. He felt sick and his head was fuzzy, Eddie lifted his left arm up to get a look at it and the bandages there, oh yeah . . .

            The bandages came off easily enough with the help of sharp teeth and fell off the bed and onto the floor to make a messy pile. Eddie peeled the second layer of gauze off and stared at the stitched-up lacerations on his arms, he slowly put one hand over them and stretched his fingers to match the lines, Venom did this . . . Venom was there and he . . . wait. Venom was still alive! Peter had to be warned!

            Eddie tried to swing his legs over the edge of the bed and just managed to get his feet on the ground when the door opened again and Bruce and Tony stood in the doorway. Eddie stared at them and tried to take a step forward but his legs were too weak and he might have fallen if Tony hadn’t hurried forward to catch him,

            “I told you we should have put him in restraints.”

            Bruce rolled his eyes, “Tony, you need to work on your bedside manner. Eddie, try to relax, alright? You’ve got to lie down and recuperate.”

            Eddie shook his head and tried to squirm out of Tony’s arms but his head swam and he went limp, groaning softly in pain and frustration.

            “N . . . nuh . . . P . . . Pe-eter . . . !” Eddie coughed as his bruised throat protested being used and he whined lowly.

            “Peter went home, Eddie,” Bruce picked up the bandages and threw them away, “Now you need to hold still and let me put clean bandages on, alright? And you can’t take them off this time, we don’t want you to get an infection.”

            Tony shook his head as he tried to keep Eddie from sitting up again, “Bruce, I think we’re wasting our time, maybe we should sedate him? He won’t heal with all this moving.”

            “Tony, enough,” Bruce admonished and sat on Eddie’s other side, “Eddie, I’ll see if Peter can come by alright? Otherwise you need to let us help you.”

            “Nuh! Nuh! . . . Ve . . . Ven . . . Ven . . . um!” Eddie croaked desperately.

            “We know and we’re looking for hi- . . . wait.” Tony looked at Bruce, then back to Eddie, “What about Venom?”

            Eddie opened his mouth but nothing would come out, he wheezed and squeezed his eyes shut in pain, he shook his head.

            “Alright, then we’ll get this taken care of first. And _no talking._ ” Bruce said gently, pulling out a new roll of bandages.

* * *

            Peter sat in his temporary lodgings in the Avenger’s HQ, Steve, Natasha and Clint were looking for Venom and they told him to stay away from his apartment and anyone at all, really. So now he was stuck once more in the same place as Eddie without being able to remedy the situation.

            He covered his face and took a deep breath, he couldn’t believe this had happened. Forget Venom, that slimy sack of symbiote would be found, contained, and maybe destroyed, it was Eddie that was on his mind. He couldn’t believe that Eddie would hurt himself . . . apparently twice even!

            “What the hell did he do? Fuck up hanging himself so he used something else??” Peter laughed bitterly but it turned into a sob as he hugged himself, he was so stupid!

            How could he sleep at night thinking that everything would be just fine if he pretended to care about Eddie and give him that kind of attention? How could he be so cruel to let Eddie pour his heart out only for him to turn around and tell Gwen he loved her? Peter was at a loss, did he really expect that Eddie would magically be all better one day and then just up and leave him alone? That Eddie would smile and say ‘Gee, thanks for the handjob and all that, really helped! See ya!’ then let Peter go on with living his life with Gwen? No, that was a new level of naivety that even Peter was shocked he could be fooled into believing.

            Then there was the other thing . . . his, erm . . . _fondness_ for Eddie, he was more than willing to just give Eddie what he seemed to want and not care about the consequences and that soon proved to be a gigantic mistake of Hulk proportions, Eddie didn’t take cuddles and spooning as therapy, he took it as truth, he really believed that Peter cared about him to the point of-

            “Hey, Peter, you there?”

            Peter glanced up at the door and sighed, he got up and opened it, “What’s up?”

            “Eddie’s awake and he’s, well, asking for you, kind of.” Tony explained.

            “ . . . I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Peter muttered, looking away guiltily.

            “Uh, Peter, I don’t really think he’ll settle down and rest if he doesn’t see you and Bruce already snapped at me for suggesting restraints.” Tony crossed his arms, “So what’s up, pup?”

            “Well . . . things got a little out of hand with Eddie and, uh, he . . . he thought or thinks that we’re um, that we’re-“

            “Together?” Tony tried.

            “ . . . yeah, that.” Peter grimaced.

            “Uh huh, well here’s the thing, Pete, Eddie is nuts. Bonkers. Absolutely and totally cuckoo. He has no idea about anything, but, he knows you. So, if we look at this like logical human beings, I think you’ll see that he needs you and me and Bruce are most certainly not going to be able to reason with him until he knows you still exist.” Tony’s eyebrow rose.

            Peter bit his lip and sighed, “Alright . . . I’ll . . . try to-“

            “Oh and he mentioned Venom, you don’t suppose that he can still sense the slimy bastard? It may prove useful.” Tony shrugged.

            Peter hurried past him to the Infirmary.

* * *

            Eddie saw Peter and almost lost it, it was all Bruce could do to stop him from flailing his way off the bed and most likely onto the floor. Eddie reached out for Peter, tears rolling down his face and his mouth slightly open with a low, whining sound pouring out.

            Peter stood in the doorway in conflict with himself, he grimaced and crossed his arms, “Hey, Eddie.”

            Eddie blinked and stopped struggling against Bruce long enough for the doctor to catch his breath. The blonde reached out for Peter, clutching his throat with the other hand as tears kept coming,

            “Pe . . . Pe . . . tey.” He groaned at the strain on his throat.

            “Eddie, I’m not going to tell you again, stop trying to talk!” Bruce scolded.

            Peter moved to the end of the bed, “Eddie . . . “

            Eddie glanced at Bruce and waited until the bespectacled man turned around before scrambling on his knees across the bed to press into Peter desperately.

            _I’m sorry, I tried to fight him, I tried so hard to get him but I couldn’t I’m sorry I should have been able to do something but I couldn’t! Peter, Peter, please, make the pain go away again, make it feel better, don’t let them touch me again, I don’t want to be here, I want to go home even though it probably isn’t safe, I need to be there where its just you and me and I can hear you moving around so I know you didn’t disappear forever. Please, I know I’m weak and broken, so, so very broken, but I need you and I want you to need me too and this is such a tired argument and I hate it and I’m sorry that I keep saying it but I need you to just give me a chance . . ._

Peter grimaced at the heavy weight of Eddie, the blonde was mumbling again only instead of words it was a series of half-whines and wheezing. Bruce turned around and rolled his eyes,

            “Peter, he needs to lie down before he either passes out or throws up, which ever happens first.”

            “Okay, Bruce, okay,” Peter bit his lip and nudged Eddie back, “C’mon, Eddie, you need to listen to Dr. Banner.”

            Eddie shook his head and pressed more into Peter’s chest, his arms hanging on either side of him, pretty much useless now and Eddie’s eyes closed. He was asleep and drooling on Peter’s shirt in seconds.

            “Passed out, a much more preferable option to puking.” Bruce shook his head, “Come on, help me get him back in bed.”

            Peter nodded mutely and helped tuck Eddie into the bed, “Now what?”

            “I don’t know. He mentioned Venom so . . . “

            “Yeah, Tony thought that Eddie might be able to still sense the symbiote.” Peter muttered, looking down at Eddie, “I can’t escape this, can I?’

            “Nope, he’s your responsibility now, even if you don’t want that.” Bruce sighed and rubbed his forehead, “I would try to talk to him when he wakes up again if I were you.”

            Peter nodded sadly, “Alright.”

* * *

           Eddie wouldn’t wake for a much longer time, nearly two days went by without him stirring for very long but Peter was a pretty patient guy. He didn’t exactly sit around waiting by Eddie’s bedside but he did check in every few hours or so and after about two days went by, he poked his head in to see the blonde sitting up in his bed.

            Peter sighed and carefully moved into the room, “Hi there.”

            Eddie looked slowly at Peter then looked away, waving his hand a little before wincing and putting it down.

            “Yeah, you, um, you shouldn’t move your hands and arms too much after the uh . . . the um . . . “ Peter trailed off and sighed, he pulled a chair up to sit next to Eddie, “Ed . . . I don’t know what was going through your head but . . . “

            Eddie’s brow furrowed in confusion.

            “P-Please don’t . . . don’t hurt yourself again. I-I thought you were okay to be alone but I guess not. I’m so sorry, Eddie, I just . . . I wish I’d have stayed home but then I think that was the problem, wasn’t it? You know I was lying the whole time, didn’t you? You knew I was lying through my teeth and pretending to- . . . well, yeah . . . I don’t think you should stay with me anymore, Ed, it isn’t good for either of us.” Peter squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip, hanging his head.

            Eddie blinked then reached out his hand, again wincing and putting it back down, he shook his head and wanted to say something but that wasn’t working either so, he did the only thing he could think to.

            Peter looked up and jumped up, “Eddie, stop that!”

            But Eddie used his sharp teeth to slice off the bandages again, Peter thought he’d done this. No. No! He had to show him, show him that Venom had been there and that Venom had done it as revenge, show his Peter that Eddie wasn’t going to hurt himself and that it was okay and . . . and . . . ow.

            Eddie tried to pull away when Peter grabbed at his hand, missing and grabbing his wrist instead,

            _No . . . no, Peter, look, look! Please look?_

            Peter tried to put the bandages back on but it was hard to focus with his eyes watering like that, “Don’t do this, Eddie, you don’t need to hurt yourself anymore.”

            Eddie shook his head, _Peter, Petey, listen to- um, I can’t talk . . . look, just look at my wrists, I’ll show you! I’ll show you that I wouldn’t do that, that I don’t hate myself that much! Please, let me! Please? Please stop!_

Peter fixed the tape back down, “There, it’s okay now, see? All . . . all better.”

            Eddie watched Peter sit down and cover his face with his hands and it hurt worse, _Peter . . . Peter, don’t cry, please stop, I’m begging you to stop, I hate it when you cry because you only cry around me when I’ve hurt you and I don’t like to hurt you, seriously stop! I can’t handle it, you’re hurting me and you’re hurting you and I don’t like it and I want it stop, but-but not like that, so don’t cry, don’t! You want me to smile and laugh but I can’t do that when you can’t either!_

Peter heard then felt Eddie getting off the bed and moving to put his head on Peter’s lap, the brunette looked down and ran his fingers through Eddie’s short hair,

            “You poor thing, I just . . . I just don’t know what to do for you anymore . . . maybe I was wrong, maybe you were . . . better off.” Peter rubbed at his eyes and sighed, “I can’t get away from you anymore, can I? I try to push you away, you get worse. I try to give you what you want, I get worse. I try to hand you over to someone else, you want me. I stay with you and the whole world just doesn’t make sense anymore.”

            Eddie bit his lip, “P- . . . ngh . . . Pe . . . “

            “Yeah?”

            “Ve . . . num . . . “ Eddie whispered harshly, “H . . . He . . . “

            “Don’t worry about it, Venom can’t hurt you ever again, we’re making sure of th-“ Peter reached into his pocket for his phone, “Hang on, I have to get this.”

            Eddie huffed in irritation, damn technology and its constant interrupting of them talking!

            Peter put his phone to his ear, “Hello?”

            “Ssspider . . . “

            Peter’s eyes widened, “ . . . what do you want?”

            “Sssimple. We want you, poor Eddie jussst wasssn’t enough for usss. It hurt usss to have to kill it but we had no alternative. It betrayed usss.”

            Peter blinked then looked down at Eddie and how the blonde was clinging onto his legs, “You did this . . . ?”

            “Ssso you found our former Hossst then? Good.” There was a hissing chuckle then Venom spoke again, “We didn’t think we could trussst our poor Eddie anywaysss. Ssso we have a new Hossst.”

            “Really?” Peter swallowed as his mind raced.

            “Yesss, ssshe’sss a pretty thing . . . blonde . . . it likesss blondesss, doesssn’t it, ssspider? Pretty blondesss.” Venom laughed again, “Thisss one ssstood between usss and the ssspider, but now it won’t. It isss Venom’sss Hossst now.”

            Peter’s mouth went slack and he almost dropped the phone, “ . . .Gwen.”

            “Yesss, that is what the ssspider called her, isssn’t it?” Venom hissed in amusement, “Ssspider will come to usss or the blonde female will die a ssslow, painful death.”

            The connection ended and Peter’s hand dropped to his side, dropping the phone to the floor and not caring if it broke. Tony would get him a new one. Yeah . . . it didn’t matter if the phone broke.

            Eddie looked up in concern, his knees were hurting and he wanted to sleep again only maybe Peter would stay with him this time? He tugged on Peter’s sleeve with his teeth (his arms and hands decided they didn’t remember how to work without hurting) and tried to get him to come to the bed.

            Peter looked at Eddie and then he pulled the blonde into his lap and hugged him so tightly that Eddie almost pushed away in pain,

            “You-You didn’t do this to yourself, did you? Venom did it. He . . . He was trying to kill you. Oh, Eddie, you stupid oaf . . . you scared me so bad!”

            Eddie blinked then relaxed, nuzzling into Peter's shoulder and thought for a moment that, hey, wasn’t this nice?

            _Maybe I should let Venom try to kill me more often if it means Peter will hold me without being asked or pushed._

Peter carefully put Eddie on the bed, “Okay, here's the thing, though, Venom has Gwen and I have to go save her so-“

            Eddie stopped hearing anything after ‘Venom has Gwen’, his face broke into a huge smile and he tried to hug Peter again.

            _Ding dong the witch is dead! Which old witch? The Wicked Witch! Woohoohoo! Peter and me now, me and Peter, Peter and I, him and me and no one else! Venom can have Gwen and it’ll leave us alone and she’ll leave us alone and we can be together! Yay! Life doesn’t suck as bad as-_

“So you’ll, wait here while I go do the heroic thing, okay?”

            Eddie blinked in confusion then shook his head. _No, you stay here with me._

            “Eddie, listen to me, Venom is going to kill Gwen if I don’t go.”

            _So?_

“ . . . I’m not discussing this with you.” Peter shook his head.

            _No, wait, I just got you back! We just got back to the part where you’re hugging me and the world feels okay again!_

“Eddie, stop, you’re going to open your stitches or something.”

            _Can’t you see being apart is killing us? Look! Look what its done! Can’t you just-_

“Eddie, I don’t want to hurt you! Let go!”

            _Why are you fighting me at every turn? Why are you doing this to us? You know you aren’t lying, you know that NO ONE is this good at acting!_

“EDDIE! STOP!”

            _I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU!_

“What is going on here?”

            Eddie and Peter looked over to the door and Bruce was standing with a tray and something in a bowl that looked suspiciously like tapioca.

            “Venom has Gwen, I need to go after him as soon as possible or he’ll kill her.” Peter explained, wrenching his shirt out of Eddie’s hands and straightening up.

            “No, you stay put and the Avengers will take care of this.”

            “But-“

            _Yes!_

“No, look, every time you go it alone against this asshole, you get hurt or go missing for several days. Just let us handle it, okay?” Bruce set the tray down, “Besides, you’re the only one that Eddie responds to.”

            Peter glanced angrily at Eddie who was beaming, “ . . . isn’t that convenient?”

            “Indubitably. I’ll go alert the team, get Eddie to eat something.” Bruce turned to leave, “And try not to get into another brawl, hm?”

            “It wasn’t my-“ Peter groaned loudly and looked back at Eddie, “You are such a fucking jerk!”

            Eddie tilted his head and huffed,

            _Yeah . . . I get that vibe._

“You just . . . You can’t handle it, can you?” Peter sat down and started stirring the probably-tapioca with a spoon spitefully, “You can’t handle not being the center of attention! You couldn’t before Venom and you can’t now! You’re so fucking selfish!”

            _Jeez, language, Peter . . ._

            Eddie grimaced and shifted his weight, his eyes downcast then a spoonful of the nasty goop was thrust into his face, he pulled back and pursed his lips.

            “Here, eat something.” Peter snapped.

            Eddie glared at the spoon, _I don’t think I like tapioca. I like Chinese food though, you could get me some of that._

“Knock it off. I know what you’re doing so stop it. Eat the stupid tapioca.” Peter instructed.

            _Ha! Knew it was nasty, gloppy tapioca. I’m not swallowing that stuff . . . nope._

“Fine, don’t! I don’t even care anymore! My girlfriend’s life is in danger and I’m stuck babysitting your sorry ass! I was so stupid to think I could fix you! I hate you so much sometimes.” Peter put his head down into his hands and shuddered, “ . . . why do you make me feel this way?”

            Eddie slumped, glancing at the tapioca,

_I’m so sorry, Peter . . ._

            “I love you.”

            Eddie’s whole body snapped rigid and his eyes widened,

            _What??_

            “I don’t even know why, you just . . . you’re so . . . half the time I don’t know if you’re just feeding off something that Venom wanted you to feel or if you really care about me but . . . you almost died and I couldn’t save you . . . I still can’t and now I’m helpless to save Gwen. I’m sitting in a room with a person I couldn’t stand a few weeks ago now all I want to do is keep you safe and I hate that all I heard when Venom called was that you didn’t hurt yourself, that you didn’t do something because of me . . . that you weren’t trying to escape me. I didn’t even really register that Gwen was in trouble, even though I knew I had to care because she’s my girlfriend and you’re just someone that I used to know . . . Jesus Christ . . . but you need me so badly and you want my attention, you beg for it and you’re so happy when I give you even a glance. I’ve never known anyone that reacted like that to me. I was faking it at first . . . but I . . . would be lying if I said I don’t feel something too.” Peter took a cleansing breath and he looked up at Eddie, “ . . . Eddie, I can’t stand this anymore.”     

            Eddie wasn’t sure if this was a confession or the ‘so we need to stop this’ moment and he was too shaky and scared of ruining the moment to even try to find out.

            “ . . . I . . . I just want you to be safe and happy.” Peter whispered, “And you’re happiest with me and I can’t think of anywhere else I’d want you to be.”

            Eddie swallowed even though it hurt and tried to catch Peter’s eye,

            _Please let me stay. With you. Please, Peter, we’re too far apart, even right now . . . please, I need you. I love you._

Peter looked at Eddie and sighed, “So . . . break up with Gwen or abandon you . . . damn it, I’m stuck in between a rock and a hard place, aren’t I?”

            _Well you could be if you’d sit in my lap more_.

            “I don’t want to know what that look is for.” Peter’s eyebrow rose but he sighed and let his head rest on the bed, “This is all so confusing.”

            _I know . . ._

“Eddie, I know you can’t really talk all that much, which, believe me is a blessing, but I need to go and think about this, okay? I’m going to get you something else to eat, I don’t think you even like tapioca. I’ll be right back, okay?” Peter stood up slowly.

            Eddie nodded and watched Peter leave the room.


	10. So, are we an 'item' then?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Peter come to an . . . er . . . 'understanding'.

             Peter paced in the hallway while telling Aunt May over the phone for the eighth time that he would be back in his own home soon, he was just staying at the Tower to work on some delicate projects and don’t worry, I’m fine.

            He was about to dial again but had to stop and close his eyes for a moment, Gwen wouldn’t answer her phone to hear him say that he was okay . . . she wasn’t there. He bit his lip and swallowed, tears welling up in his eyes, okay, time to go back in the room.

            Peter put his phone in his pocket and pushed the door open, “Hey, Ed.”

            Eddie looked up and was obviously nervous about something as Peter came into the room and moved to sit down on the bed. Peter sighed heavily,

            “So, what do we do now? I’m not supposed to go out to fight Venom and you’re recovering from the attack.” Peter rubbed his knees, “You, uh, wanna watch a movie?”

            Eddie nodded quickly,

             _Yes, movie, perfect cuddling time!_

In all honesty, now that he was going to get to be with Peter (essentially), he wasn’t certain what they should.

            “You got a movie you remember liking?” Peter asked, then he tentatively took Eddie’s hand, being mindful of the blonde’s injuries.

            Eddie had to think then he smiled maniacally, nodding frantically,

             _Oh, yes, I have the perfect movie, at least, I think it was a video. Mighta been a porno though, knowing my luck. Hang on!_

He carefully got out of the bed and then stopped, how was he supposed to communicate this idea to Peter. Eddie bit his lip and stood there for a moment before finally huffing and giving Peter his best ‘help me out here’ look.

            “Hang on, follow me, I’ll show you where the movies are kept, okay? If you think you see it, we’ll pop it in and get cozy, I guess.” Peter stood and then grimaced, “Oh, uh, hang on, we should get you some actual pants, hey? You’re hospital gown is kinda . . . open in the back, Ed.”

            Eddie blinked then tried to look over his shoulder, grinning,

             _Well, it’s a beautiful moon, eh?_

“Alright, before you make yourself dizzy and fall on your ass, Eddie.” Peter put his hands on Eddie’s back, gently pushing him back to the bed, “I’ll scrounge up some clothes for you and I’ll be right back, okay?”

            Eddie nodded then blushed when Peter stood on tiptoe and kissed his forehead,

             _What was that for?_

“You just keep being nice and compliant, okay? You really need to heal and all this moving around isn’t good right now.” Peter patted Eddie’s cheek and then left the room.

            Eddie sat there staring after Peter for probably longer than necessary then he sat back,

             _Well wasn’t that interesting . . . I . . . huh, well, I almost have nothing to think about that; I liked it! I hope he’s being honest with me and not just humoring the poor, wounded psycho._

Eddie decided to just sit quietly and wait for Peter, swinging his legs a little. He looked up at the door when it opened and Peter came in with a pair of sweats and a baggy black shirt,

            “Here you go, I got these from Bruce’s room, he likes roomier clothes for obvious reasons, so they should fit you.” Peter put the clothes on the bed then sighed, “I suppose I should help you out of your fashionable outfit here.”

            Eddie looked down at his current attire,

             _Yeah, I don’t think even I can pull off the hospital gown look._

Peter helped Eddie stand up then went around behind him to untie the gown. He swallowed as he pulled it off the flimsy attire. Peter stared at the bruises that striped Eddie’s sides and clearly went all the way around to his chest where Venom had squeezed the air out of him. The brunette swallowed and thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to mention them, Eddie was probably already aware of those anyway.

            “Oh, I forgot to get you some skivvies. You don’t mind free-birding it, do you?”

            Eddie blushed as he felt Peter’s fingers brushing his shoulders,

             _Uh, well, not my favorite thing but it’s fine . . ._

            Peter leaned forward, breathing on the back of Eddie’s neck, “ . . . Eddie?”

             _Y-Yeah?_

“I . . . uh, really think you need a shower, you kinda stink.” Peter grimaced, “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

            Eddie blinked,

             _I totally thought you were going a different direction with that . . ._

Peter threw the gown thing back over Eddie’s shoulders, “C’mon, you’ll need help since you’re hands are a little floppy.”

             _That is really not my fault, okay?_

“Don’t roll your eyes, I’m offering shower fun, I think I am at least.” Peter smirked.

            Eddie’s eyes widened as Peter led him to a bathroom that magically just happened to be down the hall. He still wasn’t sure about what Peter was talking about until he started to slip off his own shirt. Eddie took an uncertain step back and watched while Peter undid his belt buckle and dropped his pants.

            “What?”

            Eddie blinked and swallowed thickly,

             _This . . . This escalated so incredibly fast, I’m not sure how I feel about this._

Peter turned the water on, holding his hand under the stream until he was satisfied with the temperature,

            “I’m going to take off your bandages, alright?” Peter started to peel the tape off the gauze and coil them on the bathroom counter.

            Eddie blinked and bit his lip slightly while he watched Peter,

             _You, uh, you’re really okay with this? I mean, it wasn’t more than a week ago that you were pushing me back and telling me about the whole ‘no homo’ thing, right? Or are you an evil clone?_

Peter pushed the door open and guided Eddie in, following after him and closing the door behind them,

            “Hey, you okay?”

            “M . . . Mhm.”

            Eddie nodded slowly while Peter squirted some shampoo into his hand and reached up to lather the blonde’s hair. Peter carefully rinsed Eddie’s hair out then started to clean him up,

            “You’re awfully content to just let me do whatever here, Ed.”

            Eddie shrugged,

             _I-I’m just trying to process this. See, I knew this was what I wanted but now that I have it, I’m a little unsure as to what I should do now. I mean . . . I’m so confused._

Peter ran his fingers over Eddie’s chest and moved his hands down to frame Eddie’s hips,

            “ . . . This is too much, isn’t it?”

            Eddie nodded a little, choosing to ignore the partial erection he was sporting, eo he looked at Peter and licked his lips, moving a little closer and bending his head down. He held this position for a moment then looked at Peter with eyebrow cocked,

             _Hey, I’m going the ten percent, you gotta go the other ninety._

Peter smiled a little and stood up on the balls of his feet to press his lips against Eddie’s. It was a little odd, Eddie’s lips were a little chapped and they weren’t soft or full like Gwen’s, they-

            Peter stopped kissing Eddie and stepped back, he’d forgotten for just a moment that Gwen was in trouble. He’d just allowed himself to forget that there was still a danger out there. He wasn’t being the hero, he was being . . . a regular guy in the shower with his . . . er, boyfriend?

            Peter blinked at Eddie and smiled, so this was what it felt like. This was what it felt to just be an ordinary guy that doesn’t have to worry about secret identity or fighting baddies or super villains. He was just here in a nice hot shower with a guy that wanted nothing more than to make him happy, they were just going to watch a movie tonight and let everyone else deal with Venom.

            “This . . . This is what you promised me, isn’t it?” Peter asked softly, turning the water off, “This is how it could be . . . even if I pursue the Spiderman gig, I don’t have to worry at all about these kinds of things. And I can be just me when at home and not worry about letting anything slip about crime fighting or covering up bruises. This is what you were offering, isn’t it?”

            Eddie nodded, reaching out to drape his arms around Peter’s shoulders and nuzzling the younger man’s cheek gently,

             _Well, I was hoping it would be me taking care of you but I guess it’s the other way around._

“It’s going to be okay, Ed . . . I promise this time, now it’s going to be okay. You and me, I’ll take care of you and you’ll accept me, right? That’s how it’s supposed to be, right? Right?”

            Eddie nodded,

             _Yes, it will be like that, I swear._

* * *

           Peter helped Eddie into the clean clothes and took him down to the movie library that Clint and Bruce had accumulated (despite Tony rolling his eyes and trying to convey what he calls ‘the magic of Netflix’ upon the other men),

            “Do you see the one you want? I don’t know if you can read but they’re all- oh . . . that one?”

            Eddie nodded and held the DVD case out,

             _Absolutely. I didn’t think it was a porno and bingo, I was right!_

“It’s kinda . . . inappropriate.” Peter grimaced.

             _Oh come on! You’ve jerked me off, how can this be any worse?_

“Well, alright, but remember, this is  _your_  idea.” Peter shook his head and grinned.

            Eddie got comfortable on the couch while Peter popped the movie in,

            “Alright, but I dunno if we should be watching  _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_.”

             _Oh lighten up!_

* * *

            Halfway through the movie Peter found himself with a lapful of snoozing Eddie, he sat with his fingers buried in Eddie’s soft blonde hair and he was pretty comfortable. He looked down and smiled, his fingers sliding down Eddie’s back, pulling his shirt up to caress the smooth, muscled flesh,

            “ . . . Ed?”

            Eddie blinked a little, glancing up at Peter, “Hm?”

            “Could you move a bit, you’re right on my junk.” Peter nudged Eddie in the hip with a finger.

            Eddie blinked then smiled a little, he shifted his weight back and stretched,

             _Better?_

“There, that’s better, thanks.” Peter cracked his back and sank back against the cushions, “You comfy?”

            Eddie nodded and sat back, his wrists were pretty sore yet, but thanks to some really great pain meds and a rapid healing thingamabob doohickey, the pain was more than manageable and his throat was already feeling quite a bit better. So all around, he was  _very_  comfy.

            “Good, good . . . “

            Peter shifted nervously, he wasn’t sure what he could do that wouldn’t hurt Eddie. Could he hold the blonde’s hand without harming his wrists? Hug him without the bruises and the possible broken/cracked ribs he had getting worse? And then, would they be able to do . . . sex things? More than certain Eddie wouldn’t be up to fellatio on account of his throat and no handjobs because of his wrists so . . . no. No, Peter, no regular butt sex! NO! Remember the last time either of you tried that? At least one of you was controlled by Ol’ Sticky! And that shouldn’t even be something you’re thinking of right now! Okay, a young Tim Curry prancing about in a corset and high heels isn’t helping you because  _damn_  that ass! But, but seriously, you don’t want that right now, wait until this is over, okay? Wait til the Venom thing is over and you can at least be a gentleman and break up with Gwen the decent way (albeit how you possibly dump that bomb on her after the whole ordeal is going to  _suck_  even if done gently) and not  _cheat on her now_!

            Peter blinked then turned to stare at Eddie who was almost dozing with his head tucked into his chest and he looked so cute and relaxed and Peter licked his lips. He scooted closer to the blonde and gently tucked his arm behind Eddie’s shoulders, turning so he was facing Eddie. This was . . . not a good idea, he was already sporting a chubby and this closeness was such a bad idea . . . but, Eddie was a grown man and; despite how shy or scared he looked at times, wasn’t a child and had sex. With Peter. More than once. So . . . logic is sound right?

            Eddie’s eyes opened slightly again and he looked at Peter,

             _Peter, you’re gun is digging into my leg and I know you don’t pack heat._

            “Uh . . . I can explain this.” Peter mumbled, thinking yeah, this was a bad idea.

             _You don’t have to. I’m a man, you’re a man, we have penises that function. Fun times._

“I mean, well, you’re probably really tired from meds and you’re injured so . . . uh, we shouldn’t push our luck.” Peter backed off a bit, feeling really guilty.

            Eddie shook his head and put an arm around Peter,

             _No, come on, don’t pull away, I want you close. I love you, remember?_

“Eddie . . . Ed, I don’t want to hurt you, uh . . . er . . . what do you like being called, like petname-wise? No, don’t try to talk, I want you to think about that for a bit, okay? Then in a day or two you can tell me yourself.”

             _Princess. I like that one . . . yeah . . ._

“I . . . I always liked being called ‘babe’ or ‘sweetheart’, I guess.” Peter murmured, sighing and putting his head down on Eddie’s shoulder, blushing a little as his dick dug into Eddie’s hip.

            Eddie smiled a little, his eyelids still heavy,

             _Yeah, you look like a ‘babe’ or ‘sweetheart’ . . . ‘angel’, even._

“ . . . I’m sorry about this, uh, my uh . . . yeah, digging into your . . . ugh.” Peter closed his eyes and groaned, “I feel like a total perv taking advantage of you when you’re hurt like this.”

             _Dude, Petey, I’m not exactly an innocent party here! I totally want to bone you as soon as I stop falling asleep every five seconds. Here._

Peter opened his eyes when Eddie got a light grasp on his hand and moved it to Eddie’s crotch. Peter blinked and swallowed,

            “Oh . . . you want me to help with that?” He asked softly, scooting closer and, instead of pulling his hand away, he rubbed his hand down on the inseam of Eddie’s sweats.

            Eddie shook his head slightly,

             _I want to make you feel good, too, I just can’t think of a whole lot of ways to do that right now._

“Maybe we should wait, huh? Wait until you’re all better?” Peter reached up and brushed back some of Eddie’s hair.

            Eddie nodded a little and closed his eyes,

             _Fine with me, I’d hate to doze off right in the middle of something really . . . great . . ._

Peter smiled and kissed Eddie’s temple,

            “I’ll take care of you and when this is all over, I’ll hold you to that promise, that part about how you’ll make me ‘wonder why we haven’t been banging it out before now’.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aheh . . . okay, if you haven't seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show, drop everything you're doing and go find it. It is the greatest movie I have ever seen! Young Tim Curry in panties, fishnet, high heels, and a corset? Oh yes please!


	11. A Bit of Closure Perhaps?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Peter comes to terms with the whole 'gay thing' he and Eddie are doing. And they're in the Tower. Alone. With NO ONE around.

            “What do you mean ‘you can’t find her’?” Peter snapped, staring incredulously at the assembled Avengers.

            “Peter, we’ve been everywhere at least twice, we’ve checked with her teachers, contacts you gave us, her work; Gwen Stacy seems to have literally fallen off the face of the Earth.” Steve explained calmly, “Her family is very worried and there’s a ‘missing persons’ picture anywhere they could find a space!”

            “But-“

            “We’re doing our best, kiddo.” Bruce grimaced and leaned forward, “I know that isn’t what you want to hear.”

            Peter sighed heavily and nodded, “Okay, I’ll leave this to you guys for now, just keep me posted.”

            “You know we will.” Natasha put a hand lightly on Peter’s shoulder before he turned and left the room.

* * *

            “So . . . what now?” Eddie looked up from staring at the wall as Peter walked into the room.

            “Whaddaya mean?” Peter asked, slumping onto the bed next to Eddie, he laid out on his back and closed his eyes.

            “Judging by your somberness I’d say they haven’t found Venom or Gwen yet, am I right?”

            “Correct.”

            “Well, my question stands, so, now what?” Eddie turned onto his side and stared at Peter, reaching out a hand to smooth the brunette’s hair a bit.

            “Nothing, they want me to keep sitting here on my ass instead of helping them look for her!” Peter smacked Eddie’s hand away and flopped an arm across his eyes, “I feel helpless!”

            Eddie bit his lip and sighed, “Well . . . I suppose they’re the best ones for the job.”

            “Bullshit!” Peter sat up and got off the bed, he started to pace angrily, “Venom is my villain! I should be the one to track him down and beat him into a pulp! He’s taken everything from me! He took my girlfriend! He- Dammit, look what he did to you! Venom sucked all the life out of you and took your memories, Ed! He manipulated and tortured you! Now I’m expected to sit by and watch while Venom pretty much gets away with it all, scot-free? That’s not fair! I want to destroy that globby sack of shit, I want to make him suffer for what he did to you and what he’s probably doing to Gwen! I . . . I want . . . “

            Eddie watched as Peter stopped pacing and stood in front of the window in the room, he stared out it with a kind of desperation that Eddie knew only too well. The blonde slowly got up and went to put his arms around Peter’s waist from behind, he sighed when Peter relaxed back into his arms,

            “I know . . . I want to make Venom pay too, Petey, but I’m just me and the Avengers just want you to be safe.”

            Peter huffed and shook his head, “Then they should take me _with_ them! I’m ‘The Amazing Spiderman’, for my sake! I’m not some kid in tights running about, I’m a superhero with powers and everything!”

            Eddie reached up and stroked Peter’s hair, “I know . . . babe, I-I know.”

            Peter blinked and looked up, “You just call me ‘babe’?”

            Eddie flushed and bit his lip, “Uh, y-yeah, you said the other day you liked that pet-name. Is that not okay now?”

            “No, no, it’s still okay.” Peter closed his eyes, “You think about what you want to be?”

            Eddie snorted, “I don’t know what I’d want to be called . . . I don’t remember any past relationships or anything so . . . meh, whatever comes to mind.”

            Peter squinted for a moment then shrugged, “I dunno, I just like to call you ‘Ed’, to be honest. You don’t really look like anything else, to me anyway.”

            Eddie moved back to the bed and sat down, closing his eyes, “I guess.”

            Peter tilted his head back and sighed, “Bored.”

            Eddie opened his eyes a bit and flopped onto his back, “Well, I can think of a few things we could be doing.”

            Peter’s eyebrow rose and he wandered over to the bed, leaning over Eddie, “I imagine you aren’t talking about Connect Four.”

            Eddie smiled, “Guilty.”

            Peter blinked and sat down next to Eddie, he bit his lip uncertainly and tentatively reached out his hand to push Eddie’s shirt up, touching the line of darker blonde curls leading to Eddie’s waistband,

            “Hmm.”

            “You’re a cautious kind of guy, aren’t you?” Eddie propped himself up on his elbows.

            Peter sighed, “The last time either of us had sex we were being controlled by an alien, the first time you were not for it and the second time I just gave up. Our track records aren’t really all that desirable. And officially, I’m still dating Gwen.”

            Eddie blinked slowly and huffed, “Alright then, forget it.”

            “Eddie-“

            “No, seriously, if you’re so hung up on her then we’ll wait, whatever.” Eddie shrugged and rolled onto his side, glaring at the pillows.

            Peter put his hand on Eddie’s side, scooting up and lying down to curl around him, “Eddie, I’m not ‘hung up’ on her, okay? I’m doing this here with you, I’m doing the whole ‘gay thing’ with you, right? I already told you that I love you, I’m just a little . . . hesitant. I want to do this right and I want us to actually have an experience that I’ll at least remember fondly. Do you understand?”

            Eddie put his hand on Peter’s and nodded, “Yes. I get it, babe . . . I should have thought of that.”

            “It’s fine, Ed.” Peter leaned forward and nuzzled the nape of Eddie’s neck.

            Eddie scooted back, “What if they _do_ find Gwen?”

            His heart slammed into his ribcage with anxiety, in the back of his head he had the sinking feeling that when Gwen was in fact found and, since she’d only been a walking meat puppet of a symbiote for a short time she’d be salvageable, would Peter change his tune? Would he run back to her and leave Eddie alone again? Or was he not giving the hero enough credit? 

            “Then they find her.” Peter shrugged, “I’ll have a lot of explaining to do since she’ll probably be privy to Venom’s memories and thoughts that will no doubt include the both of us. I doubt she’d even consider going back out with me so it doesn’t really matter if you and I remain you and I. It’s . . . a little disheartening when I think about it. Gwen was kind of the first girl I thought I’d be with forever and now I’ll probably lose her completely, one way or another.”

            Eddie bit his lip, “I’m sorry, Petey, I didn’t really think of it like that.”

            “Nor would I expect you to, you’ve been very single-minded this entire time so I don’t blame you fixating on a future with us together.”

            “You’re just the only thing that’s held me together since Venom, Peter.”

            Peter shifted and lifted himself up onto his elbow, “I know, Ed, and I’m okay with that now.”

            He bent down and kissed Eddie’s forehead, running his fingers slowly over the man’s soft blonde hair. Eddie rolled onto his back, looking up at Peter with more trust then the brunette thought he deserved,

            “You really want this?”

            Eddie nodded, “Yeah, I fucking do.”

            Peter grimaced and nodded, “Alright . . . alright, I can do this. Own free volition and all that. No symbiote between us, telling us what to do and feel. Right.”

            Eddie smiled and put a finger to Peter’s lips, “Peter, babe, you’re babbling.”

            “well, can you blame me?” Peter looked away in embarrassment.  
            “Nope. You want me to do it or are you okay?” Eddie sat up again, pulling his shirt over his head.

            Peter stared at Eddie’s torso, the muscles riddled with thin scars, he reached his hand out and licked his lips while he stroked the warm, pale flesh,

            “I-I’m good.”

            Eddie nodded, “You wouldn’t happen to have a condom or lube or anything, would you?”

            “No, but I’m pretty sure I know where I can find stuff.” Peter stood up, “I’ll be right back, don’t start without me.”

            Eddie gave him a two-finger salute and leaned back on the bed. 

* * *

           Peter could _not_ believe he was sneaking into Tony’s room, especially not when he was caught.

            “Can I help you, Mr. Parker?”

            “Ach! JARVIS, you scared me . . . um, n-no, I’m just, uh-“ Peter fidgeted, not sure where to look to address the AI then wondering if he would even be able to meet JARVIS’s ‘eye’ if he knew where it was.

            “Looking for something, sir?”

            “Uh, um, y-yes, I was just um, looking for a- “

            “In Master Stark’s room?”

            “Well, you see, I just needed a-“

            “Being that you and Mr. Brock are the only ones’ in the Tower?”

            “Um, the thing is-“

            “And Mr. Brock is currently sitting naked in his room, facilitating himself?”

            Peter blushed at the mental image and swallowed, “ . . . I thought Tony’s room would be the most likely place to find a condom.”

            “Too true, considering who else lives in the Tower, Mr. Parker. He keeps the condoms and lube in the nightstand on the right, second drawer.”

            Peter swallowed, “R-Right, uh, thanks JARVIS.”

* * *

             Peter returned and just about came on the spot when he saw that Eddie was indeed ‘facilitating’ himself, as JARVIS so mildly put it.

            “Oh, uh . . . wow.” Peter licked his lips.

            Eddie’s eyebrow cocked, “Find one?”

            “Found a lot more than one condom . . . but I really don’t want to think about that right now, if that’s alright with you.” Peter muttered, moving back to the bed, he sat and watched Eddie for a bit longer, the blonde had this odd look on his face and Peter was hard-pressed to tear his eyes away long enough to remove his own clothing (more nervously than he had before which surprised him) and hand Eddie the condom and packet of lube.

            Eddie stared at the condom, “What?”

            “Aren’t you going to, you know, put it on?” Peter blushed and his erection twitched, he was finding it very hard to _not_ stare at Eddie, every inch of him.

            “No.” Eddie held it back out to Peter.

            Peter stared at it incredulously, his mouth hanging open as he processed this, “Wha- Me?? Why me? I thought you were going to do the . . . you know!”

            Eddie snorted, “Nope.”

            “But-“

            “You want this or not?”

            “Well, I- . . . I do but I just, uh, never did this before.”

            Eddie shrugged, “Same with a chick, just a little more ‘hands-on’ if you know what I mean.”

            Peter blushed a little, “Oh.”

            Eddie’s eyebrow rose sharply, “You have had sex with a woman before, right?”

            “Er . . . “ Peter rubbed his arm and looked at his feet.

            “Uh-huh. Alrighty then, I can dig it. C’mere.”

            Peter’s head snapped up and he blinked at Eddie, “What?”

            “C’mere,” Eddie held the condom back out to Peter, “I’ll help you.”

            Peter’s blush reached the roots of his hair as he crawled over to Eddie and took the rubber from him,

            “Right.”

            Eddie slowly got onto his hands and knees, “I already took care of the prep-work so whenever you’re ready.”

            Peter’s hands were shaking as he shifted to be behind Eddie, he licked his dry lips and positioned his cock, pushing it in slowly.

            _So much for waiting to break up with Gwen . . ._

Eddie grunted and the muscles in his back tensed, “Gonna have to go a little faster than that, Petey.”

            Peter shivered and pushed into Eddie all the way, “Holy shit . . . you are _really_ tight!”

            Eddie snorted, “And you feel a lot bigger than you look. _Move please_!”

            Peter blinked then he gasped, “Oh, yeah, right!”

            He pulled out of Eddie then pushed back in uncertainly, Eddie was very tight and very warm and it was freaking amazing. Peter crouched over Eddie, one arm wrapped around the blonde’s waist while the other was bracing him up as best he could; he could barely get his hand on the bed with Eddie being larger than him.

            Eddie grunted and huffed, feeling Peter inside him was simply bliss; the smaller brunette was incredibly inexperienced (Venom clearly had taken over the first time), so it was no surprise to the blonde that Peter completely forgot to give him a reach-around. Eddie shook his head slightly and reached down to get a handle on his own dick, pumping it in time with Peter’s thrusts. It felt good, really good in fact, for the smaller man’s breathing puffing onto Eddie’s sweaty back, to feel normal and human again, having a physical relationship with someone where Venom wasn’t assisting or being impatient, just two stupid humans (Well, one stupid human and one genius really) enjoying mutual sex.

            Peter finished way too early for his liking, it was almost embarrassing as he sat back, grimacing when he pulled out and even more embarrassed when he heard Eddie still going.

            “Did I come too soon?”

            Eddie grunted and shook his head, rolling onto his back as he pumped harder, “No, you did just-just fine, babe, gotta just finish up here.”

            Eddie grit his teeth then breathed in sharply and arched his back, blowing his load onto his own stomach and hand, flopping back boneless-ly and breathing heavily.

            Peter blinked exhaustedly, “I’ll go get a washcloth or something to, uh, clean up with.”

            Eddie waved his hand to show he’d heard then closed his eyes.

            Peter hurried into the bathroom down the hall, disposed of the used condom and soaked a washcloth in warm water before returning to Eddie’s room. The blonde was almost completely passed out,

            “Hey.”

            “Hey, yourself.” Peter smiled and sat on the edge of the bed, he reached over and cleaned the cum off of Eddie, “There you go, all clean.”

            “Yay.” Eddie chuckled softly and pulled Peter onto his chest, “Everything’s going to be alright, right?”

            “Yeah,” Peter mumbled, dropping the cloth on the floor and curling into Eddie, “Everything will be just fine.”

* * *

            “There you are, my sssweet ssspider.” Gwen whispered as she stared up at Avengers’ Tower, “Sssafe and tucked away from poor Venom, but don’t worry, sssoon we’ll be together and you won’t kill our eggsss, will you? No, not thisss time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You ever get the paranoid feeling that you've lost people over some small detail and you're just hoping that they simply didn't see you updated so you don't completely lose it and think they now hate your work? Yeah . . . I get that sometimes. I hope you're still out there, guys!!


	12. Peter, you're blushing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter tries to be the hero and not be mortified by everything that comes out of Tony's mouth and Eddie tries to be okay with himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of wrapping up and some fluffs. Nearly at the end here!

            Peter was awoken, rudely, by laughing. He blinked several times and then sat up, blearily rubbing his eyes,

            “Wha . . . ?”

            “Well, glad you boys found something to occupy yourselves with.”

            Peter’s eyes bugged out, Tony was leaning on the doorframe and grinning at Peter and Eddie, both of which were sprawled on the bed, naked and tangled in the sheets.

            “I-I can explain this, um, you see-“ Peter stuttered.

            “Petey, relax, I’m not your father . . . maybe, so it isn’t my place to judge your relationships, but, I would like to talk to you after you get dressed of course. I’ll be in my lab.” Tony turned and left the room.

            “What’s he want?” Eddie mumbled softly, reaching up to grab Peter and pull him back onto the bed.

            “Who knows? It is Tony after all.” Peter sighed and allowed himself to be pulled down and cuddled, “You sleep good?”

            Eddie smiled, “Oh yeah, really good. You?”

            “I had some weirdly erotic dreams but otherwise yeah.” Peter closed his eyes and yawned, “I like sleeping next to you, it’s like having my own bed-warmer.”

            Eddie snorted, “Well, at least I have my uses.”

            “I didn’t mean it like that and you know it, asshole.” Peter smiled, kissing Eddie’s cheek lightly before settling back down with his head tucked under Eddie’s chin, “I-I think I’d like to try it the other way next time.”

            “Try what the other way?” Eddie mumbled, stroking Peter’s back gently.

            “ . . . sex.” Peter shifted awkwardly.

            “Oh . . . oh! I get it, you want me to top, right, got it.” Eddie chuckled, “Why? Didn’t you like being top?”

            “ . . . I dunno, it was okay but I finished way too quickly, I’d like to try it with you on top instead. Besides, I . . . “ Peter swallowed a little in embarrassment, “I kinda liked it when you were in control, you know?”

            “No, I get it. I’m fine with being the top.” Eddie smiled and nuzzled Peter’s head.

            Peter sighed and got up, throwing his jeans and a t-shirt on before padding out the door and to the elevator.

* * *

            “So, what’s up?” Peter wandered into Tony’s personal lab and sat up on a stool that was vacant.

            Tony pushed his welding goggles up onto his forehead and leaned against whatever it was he was making, “You and Eddie, huh?”

            Peter’s brow furrowed slightly, “I thought you said you weren’t going to pass judgment on who I sleep with?”

            “Hey, whoa there kid, I’m not telling you that you _can’t_ sleep with Eddie, trust me I’ve had my fair share of partners in my life. I’m just making sure that you’re doing things that _you_ want to do.” Tony crossed his arms.

            Peter grimaced, “Sorry, Tony, I’m not being forced to do anything with Eddie that I don’t want to do, really. At first I hated him, then I pitied him, now I just want him to smile and be happy and he’s happiest with me and . . . strangely enough, I’m happiest with him.”

            Tony nodded, “Well, alright then.”

            “Is that _all_ you wanted?” Peter tilted his head slightly.

            “Nope, here.” Tony tossed a small box at Peter.

            Peter caught it and turned it over to look at, then he blushed, it was a box of condoms designed for anal sex, “Uhhh . . . “

            “Don’t go rooting around in my room again, alright? JARVIS told me what you were looking for so there you go, a nice little starter pack, it’s got a tube of lube in there too. No more digging through Uncle Tony’s sexy time stuff, right?” Tony cocked an un-amused eyebrow at Peter who was beet red.

            “R-Right, I uh . . . thanks Tony . . . I . . . “ Peter swallowed and clutched the box tightly.

            Tony chuckled, “Petey, _breathe_! I’m not mad, alright? I’m actually impressed you had the foresight to know where to get protection, I sadly was not so keen to that when I was your age so good for you.”

            “Uh, right . . . “ Peter tried not to die from how awkward this was for him.

            “So enjoy them and when you run out, I’ll steer you toward the shop I got ‘em from. Oh, if you need more lube I suppose I could-“

            “Right, thanks Tony, I gotta go!” Peter turned and hurtled for the elevator, once the doors closed he breathed out, “JARVIS?”

            “Yes, sir?”

            “Please stop telling Tony that I need sexual advice.” Peter groaned, rubbing his face with his free hand.

            “Apologies sir, I merely thought that Master Stark would be the best resource as he has had so many partners of both sexes and-“

            “Agh! No, stop talking! I don’t want to know anymore!” Peter covered both ears and squeezed his eyes shut.

            “Very well, sir.”

* * *

           “What’s that?” Eddie asked, sitting up a bit as Peter came back in.

            “Tony’s blessing.” Peter muttered, stashing the condoms in his backpack and then sat next to Eddie on the bed, “Don’t ask.”

            “Oka-ay then.” Eddie quirked an eyebrow but didn’t press further, “You okay?”

            “Yeah, I’m fine, just wish I could help more with looking for Gwin, it’s weighing on me, you know?”

            “Yeah, I know . . . but, if I know Venom, he won’t come out until you go in after him.” Eddie immediately regretted what he said when Peter leaped off the bed looking determined, “No, Peter, please don’t.”

            “That’s the solution, isn’t it? I go out there and call him out and he’ll have to answer! He wants _me_ , so it’s no wonder the Avengers can’t find him! I just need to get my suit and-“

            “Peter, please, please _please_ don’t do this!” Eddie hopped off the bed and rushed to grab the brunette tightly, “He’ll kill you! I know he will, Gwen is probably already dead, just let it go and if he never shows up again, so what? I don’t care, do you? We can just find a new place and-“

            “Eddie,” Peter put his hands on Eddie’s cheeks, “This won’t go away, if we move he’ll find us and I don’t want him to hurt you again.”

            “ . . . it would hurt me more if something happened to you.” Eddie mumbled, looking away.

            “Eddie dearest, please try to understand that I need to get this thing, after all its done I need it to pay. It’s the hero’s guilt in me, remember? Spiderman and all that? You promised I could keep that up if I was with you.” Peter stroked Eddie’s cheekbones with his thumbs.

            “But it didn’t mean that I’d be okay with you leaping into suicide missions!” Eddie bit his lip, “I know you’re a hero and all that but . . . I’m scared.”

            “I know, Ed, I am a little too, I don’t want to lose myself to Venom again, but if I don’t act, no one will be able to.” Peter leaned up and gently kissed Eddie’s lower lip, then he stood back and smiled, “I’ll be okay, I promise.”

            “Famous last words.” Eddie murmured, staring down at the floor, “You better keep that promise, Peter Parker.”

            “Hey, it’s okay, Ed, I’m a superhero, remember? With a trendy outfit and everything! I’ll be back home before you know it. Then we can really move on with our life.” Peter smiled then ducked out of the door.

            Eddie swallowed thickly and then ran out into the hallway, “Peter, wait!”

            Peter turned around in time to be caught up in Eddie’s arms, the big blonde lifted him up and buried his face into Peter’s shoulder, his sturdy frame trembling. Peter smiled after the initial shock wore off and he hugged Eddie back,

            “Shh, Ed, don’t worry.”

            “I love you.” Eddie mumbled, breathing in Peter’s scent.

            “I love you too.” Peter whispered, kissing Eddie’s forehead.

            Eddie let him down and snuffled, “G-Give ‘im hell, babe.”

            “You know it!” Peter smiled a little then continued down the hallway.

            Eddie licked his lips as Peter disappeared into an elevator, “Then come back to me.”

* * *

            “He _what_?” Tony glared down at Eddie, his arms crossed, eyes stormy.

            “I-I told you, he went after Venom.” Eddie cowered on the bed, tucking his knees up against his chest.

            “And you just _let him go_?” Tony grit his teeth.

            “What was I supposed to do? I can’t force him to stay and he’s stronger than me, if I tried he’d shrug me off!” Eddie whined, gnawing his lip with his sharp teeth until it bled a little.

            “You could have _told_ someone!”

            “I don’t know where anyone is in the Tower! I’ve only been here and in the living room!” Eddie shifted uncomfortably.

            “Damn it!” Tony shouted, throwing his hands up, “Now I gotta go after him! Great! Any ideas as to where he went?”

            “ . . . no.” Eddie stared miserably down at his feet.

            “Well that’s just fan-fucking-tastic, Eddie.” Tony turned and rushed out the door, “Bruce, we got a spider on the loose, c’mon!”

            Eddie covered his face and took a shuddering breath, it wasn’t like he’d _wanted_ Peter to go! He’d even tried to stop him, beg him to stay where it was safe, but no, mister macho superhero had to run off in his tights and try to save the day as usual! Eddie couldn’t understand why Peter hadn’t at least asked Tony or Bruce or anyone to go with him!

            “Because they would have told him ‘no’ and to ‘stay put’ again.”

            Eddie sighed heavily and curled up on his side, this was getting him nowhere. He had to just sit tight and wait it out, see who’s left standing when the dust settles . . . again. He felt so useless, helpless to assist anyone at all, when he’d been bonded to the symbiote it had been better, he’d been so much faster, stronger, and two minds was better than one for think-y things!

            But the downside to that was a controlling monster taking over his body and mind and making him do and think not so good things when the mood struck it. So, no, he wasn’t better off with the symbiote.

            “It was something at least.” Eddie muttered, closing his eyes.

* * *

            “So that went well.” Tony glanced at Peter as the elevator slowly made the ascent, Tony wasn't sure  _why_ they were all taking the elevator but oh well, whatever.

            Peter glared at him, “I got him, didn’t I?”

            “Yes, he’s contained and Miss Stacy is being seen to, but the fact is, Peter, that you didn’t even let us know you were going anywhere.” Bruce adjusted his glasses and then his pants as they hung low on his hips, he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

            “I had to, Venom wouldn’t come out if you guys were around so it was a good thing that I went out when you weren’t looking too closely.” Peter shrugged, “I’m not going to apologize when I thought it through very thoroughly.”

            Tony huffed, “And here I thought we were really getting to be buddies, I even bought you condoms.”

            Peter’s eyes widened, “Tony!”

            Bruce snorted, “You bought him condoms? Really?”

            “Yes, I figure that way he’ll be good and not catch any alien STD that Eddie might have.”

            “What??” Peter’s jaw dropped.

            “Quite thoughtful of you, Tony, should I get them something? Sort of like a bridal shower type affair, isn’t it?”

            “Hey!” Peter turned to Bruce, “I’m not _marrying_ the guy!”

            “Hmm, do you suppose Eddie likes kink? I bet he does, imagine the type of things he could have gotten up to with that sticky symbiote.” Tony tapped his chin as if in thought, “Do you think he likes bondage?”

            “NO! Stop it!” Peter groaned and anxiously watched the floor number lights.

            “You know what, I bet he does, maybe he’d like some fuzzy handcuffs?” Bruce tilted his head back.

            “Oh my gods, this isn’t happening.” Peter covered his ears, “Seriously you guys!”

            “Aw, are we embarrassing little Petey with our adult talk?” Tony chuckled, leaning forward to pinch Peter’s cheek, pulling on it to force Peter’s mouth to widen as his jaw clenched.

            “Dude, really? _Really_?” Peter yanked his face away and bolted out of the elevator as soon as it stopped, only to barrel into Eddie.

            “You two have fun now, bye bye!” Tony laughed as the doors closed.

            Eddie smiled, “I was trying to get the thing to come up so I could wait in the lobby for you.”

            Peter shook off the mortifying conversation in the elevator and smiled down at Eddie, “Aw, you were going to wait for me? That’s really nice, Ed.”

            “Well, I knew you’d come back safely. How’d it go?” Eddie set Peter onto his feet and led the way back to their room.

            “We got Gwen out of there and contained Venom. No one knows what to do with it so we’re just holding onto it for research until we do find a way to destroy it.” Peter smiled triumphantly.

            “Is it here in the Tower?” Eddie shifted nervously.

            “Yeah, but it’s totally contained, you have nothing to worry about.” Peter took Eddie hand gently and smiled, “Don’t be afraid, Spiderman is here to keep you safe.”

            “Heh, I know, babe, I’m not afraid.” Eddie smiled and kissed Peter.

* * *

            “Mister Brock, you don’t have access to this area.”

            “I-I know, JARVIS, I just need to see it.” Eddie hissed, staring through the glass doors of the lab.

            “ . . . Mr. Parker and Mr. Stark will not appreciate this breach in protocol.”

            “Please, JARVIS, please, just for a minute.” Eddie pleaded, looking around because he wasn’t sure where he should be addressing.

            “Very well, Mr. Brock.”

            The doors opened with a hiss and Eddie hurried in, there in a large tank with thick glass and metal fixtures, was Venom in his simplest form, a sludgy-looking mass. Eddie slowly approached, the symbiote was shifting around in the tank then it reared up when it sensed Eddie. It seemed to hiss angrily and it pushed against the glass, having no form with which to beat on it. Eddie sat down in front of the tank and stared at it, swallowing thickly, it turned and looked at another tank next to Venom’s, there were several little black globs shifting over each other, it was the offspring that Venom had thought Eddie killed.

            “ . . . so, they finally caught you.” He murmured, reaching out his hand and pressing it against the cold glass.

            Venom shifted and pressed against it as well, it made a sound that Eddie couldn’t understand.

            “I . . . I trusted you, Venom . . . I cared about you! Do you feel nothing for me?” Eddie bit his lip then scooted forward more and put his forehead to the glass.

            _Eddie . . . free usss . . ._

            “No. I’m not your puppet anymore, you tried to kill me, but Peter saved me.” Eddie smirked.

            _The Ssspider isss our mate!_

“No,” Eddie snarled, pushing back, “He’s _my_ mate now. I may just be a pathetic human now, but you ever try to take him from me and I’ll make sure you suffer worse fates than annihilation. I’ll make you beg for a painless death! I beat you, I got him to love me and to care about me and there’s nothing you can do to tear him away from me now!”

            Venom thrashed angrily in the tank, but it couldn’t get purchase on the smooth glass. Eddie smiled and turned to the other tank where the little Venoms were squishing about, he leaned his forehead against the glass here and his eyes widened at the clamor of thoughts that hit him as they crowded around to try and get closer to him.

            Eddie leaped back, his heart pounding and he wanted to vomit, it had been a chant along the lines of _eat kill devour mine mine mine_! He had hoped there would have been something about them that wouldn’t reflect Venom’s violent, sick behavior, but he was wrong, they were animals . . . not babies.

            He slowly got up and hurried out, thanking JARVIS before he got into the elevator and rode up to his floor.

* * *

            “Hey, where were you?” Peter mumbled as Eddie climbed into bed.

            “Shh, just getting some closure, go back to sleep.” Eddie bent down and kissed Peter gently before settling down next to him.

            “Oh, that’s good . . . “ Peter rolled over and hugged onto Eddie, soon he was fast asleep and snoring softly.

            Eddie sighed and relaxed, smiling a little as he felt himself drifting off to sleep.


	13. All's Well that Ends Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen gets the truth and Eddie makes dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This here is the end! It was so much fun writing this and I hope you all enjoyed it! Thank you so much for your support and kudos and comments and bookmarks and all those great things! Ah, my feels, they overflow!

            Peter sighed, “This . . . isn’t going well.”

            Gwen slowly looked up from staring into her coffee, “ . . . Peter, why didn’t you tell me?”

            “I- . . . “ Peter bit his lip.

            “Didn’t you trust me?” Gwen swallowed and moved her coffee off to the side.

            Peter’s eyes widened, “Of course I did! Gwen, it wasn’t about trust, it was about me keeping you safe, I swear!”

            “Safe from what? That gloppy black _thing_? It seemed to have no trouble finding me whether I knew your ‘alter ego’ or whatever! And it said and showed me things, things I wish I could un-see and hear.” Gwen shuddered, “Things about you and that . . . Eddie person, who you _lied_ to me about as well! Why would you do this to me? Going around behind my back with him! If you had just told me you were gay, I would have understood!”

            “I’m not gay! Kinda . . . really.” Peter sighed, “It’s . . . a bit complex.”

            “Peter, physics is complex, this is so far out of the ballpark that I don’t even know what to call it,” Gwen shook her head and sighed, “I just wish you had been honest with me.”

            “Gwen, if I had thought for even a moment that you wouldn’t either leave me over Spider-Man or something like what happened with Eddie, I would have. I wanted you to be safe, Gwen.”

            Gwen stood up and shook her head, “Ignorance isn’t safety, Peter, it’s like wandering near a cliff and not knowing where the edge is. I hope you and Eddie are very happy with each other, but I think you and I need some distance.”

            “ . . . I understand.” Peter mumbled, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

* * *

            “It didn’t go well, did it?” Eddie asked when Peter finally swung into their apartment window.

            Peter peeled off his mask and dropped his backpack before slumping to sit in one of the easy chair, “Meh.”

            “Sorry.” Eddie murmured, “I know you really cared about her.”

            “I wish I could say we’re just friends now but . . . that’d be just another lie on top of the heap that I keep trying to hide under the rug.” Peter rubbed his eyebrows tiredly.

            Eddie walked slowly over and sat at Peter’s feet, “I was wondering why the floor felt so bumpy.”

            “Har har, smart guy.” Peter sighed again and started to peel off the parts of his suit until he was just in the tight tights.

            Eddie leaned up, “Babe, not everything turns out like a fancy bowl of assorted cashews, yanno? Look at my life, or at least, look at what I remember it as.”

            Peter ran his fingers slowly through Eddie’s soft blonde hair, “Maybe you’re right, I mean, what did I really expect her to say? ‘Gee, Peter, you’re Spider-Man? Can I have your autograph?’.”

            “Well, that would have been a little weird.” Eddie shrugged.

            “Or how about, ‘Wow, Peter, you’re gay? I never would have guessed with how you only hang out with other guys in tight, form-hugging outfits.’?” Peter sighed.

            “Still coming to terms with that, huh?” Eddie tilted his head slightly.

            “No, I’ve accepted it and we’re moving on, I just . . . “ Peter bit his lip and took a cleansing breath before continuing, “You don’t tell the people you love about your other life to protect them. You do it _because_ you love them more than even makes sense! You jump through hoops because you’re scared, not only of them getting hurt by an archenemy or super-villain but also because of the secret you’re keeping. You have no idea how they’ll react to you moonlighting as a freaky crime-fighter who can climb on walls and swing from a web with the greatest of ease. You just . . . you have no idea what they’ll think . . . then when they find out, they get mad at you! It’s like a slap in the face that doing all you could to protect them was the exact opposite of what they want! But-but how could I have known? How? I hear some of the terrible things people say about Spider-Man, I’d be devastated if something happened to Aunt May or Gwen or even you, Ed, if the world knew who to aim the gun at!”

            Peter broke down, covering his face with his hands. Eddie grimaced and slip into the chair, pulling Peter onto his lap in the process,

            “I know, Petey, I know, but you do what ya gotta do, yanno? Gwen would have found out one way or another, she’s super smart! And Aunt May, well, she knows you . . . hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if she already figured you out! And as for me, I may just be a weird, maybe-symbiote-hybrid-type-thingy, but it’ll take more than a threat to my personal person to make me ever let you go.”

            Peter snuffled and slowly looked at Eddie, “You love me, don’t you?”

            “Yeah, I like keeping you around.” Eddie smiled, “C’mon, dry your eyes and let’s get something to eat.”

            “Okay.”

            They both stood up and Eddie put his hands on Peter’s shoulders, “Well, maybe you should grab a shower, you kinda got the spandex-with-sweat-stink on ya.”

            Peter wrinkled his nose, “Gee, thanks.”

            He turned and made for the bathroom, yelping in surprise when Eddie swatted his behind in passing.

* * *

            Eddie was in the kitchn, his head cocked slightly so he could listen to Peter in the shower, not pervy or anything, just obsessive worry over his ma- er, _boyfriend_.

            “Still in my noggin, ain’cha, Sticky? Wonder if I’ll ever shake you?” He murmured while he got supper going.

            Eddie was rather proud of himself, he had several hours in the day to just be sitting about so he started some hobbies; he ran (twice a day sometimes, depended on how quiet his mind was), he read as much as he could, and he taught himself to cook. He was no gourmet, but if he could force calories into Peter’s skinny frame before the little nerd skedaddled out the door or pulled an all-nighter at work, then Eddie was content.

            “Smells good.”

            Eddie smiled, “Thanks, it has to be in the oven for about a half hour, so I figure we can watch a Dr. Who episode or so- . . . . -mething.”

            Eddie stared at Peter while the brunette leaned on the doorway of the kitchen, he was still a little wet and his hair was mussed up, but it was the fact that Peter’s attire consisted of only a towel around his waist.

            Peter smirked, “Or ‘something’.”

            “Sweet Jesus,” Eddie murmured, “That’s ‘something’ alright.”

            “Put that in the oven and I’ll see you in the bedroom, you have two minutes.” Peter smiled and turned on his heel, leaving Eddie with his mouth hanging slightly open.

* * *

            It took Eddie one minute and thirty-six seconds to shove their dinner into the oven, strip out of his clothes as he walked and stumble into bedroom, he stared at the bed and its occupant. Peter was sitting up under the sheets, comfortably leaning back on the pillows,

            “Took your sweet time.” Peter smiled as his eyes drank in the sight of Eddie.

            “Sorry, I tried to hurry but my jeans got all tangled at my ankles.” Eddie shrugged and moved to climb onto the bed, slinking up until he was crouching over Peter, “I did my best.”

            “I’m sure you will.” Peter murmured, he leaned up and kissed Eddie’s stubbly chin, “You didn’t shave today?”

            “I forgot. Human thing, not on my list, you know how it is.” Eddie murmured, his body shivered excitedly.

            “Hmm, so, is this on the list?” Peter leaned forward and slid his finger over the head of Eddie’s cock, making it twitch.

            “Ah, yeah, definitely on the list. So, uh, why are you suddenly so horny?” Eddie asked, sliding off to the side and propping himself up on his elbow.

            “ . . . Stressful day.” Peter shrugged.

            “Nah, c’mon, Petey, tell me why you went from zero to sixty in record-breaking time.” Eddie cocked an eyebrow but kept the smile on his face.

            Peter grimaced, closed his eyes to think, then smiled, “Because with you, in this apartment, I’m just plain ol’ Peter Parker. You make me feel safe and normal and you understand better than anyone what I go through during the day. Because I love you and I want you and I’m running out of reasons, so just take me, alright?”

            Eddie chuckled and leaned up to kiss Peter’s cheek, “You’re such a nerd.”

            “Yes, I am.” Peter nodded, turning his head to get at Eddie’s lips.

            Eddie shifted so he could be on top of Peter again, his hands sliding over Peter’s chest, shoving the sheets aside so he could get at every lovely inch of his partner. Eddie smiled while he kissed and licked his way down Peter’s chest, nipping at the brunette’s navel as he passed it and shifted position so he could get Peter’s cock in his mouth. Peter arched his back and sighed, looking down contentedly while Eddie worked his length,

            “Ed, sex, please? Not that fellatio isn’t incredibly fantastic, but I want sex.”

            Eddie laughed and pillowed his cheek on Peter’s thigh, “Impatient aren’t we?”

            “Stressful day, remember?” Peter smiled and nudged Eddie back up.

            Eddie chuckled and shook his head, “Alright,” He went to the nightstand and reached into the drawer for a condom, “So, you top or me?”

            “You, I’m very much into the idea of not having to think for the next ten minutes or so.” Peter murmured, sitting back, “Grab the lube too, alright?”

            “Like I’d forget, out of all the things we do together, sex is the one thing that I totally have a checklist for.” Eddie rolled back over, holding the lube out for Peter, “Wanna prep yourself?”

            “Sure.” Peter shifted down on the bed and spread his legs, taking the lube and slicking his fingers.

            Eddie watched with interest as Peter pumped first one, then two, then three fingers into his hole, the blonde licked his lips and took a slow breath out of his nose while he slid the condom onto his dick. Peter looked bleary-eyed at Eddie while the blonde got back up and shifted to kneel with Peter’s legs resting on Eddie’s hips.

            “Ready?” He asked softly.

            Peter nodded, “As I’ll ever be.”

            Eddie lifted Peter’s legs up onto his shoulders and leaned forward, pushing down into Peter slowly until he was balls-deep, “You’re so . . . _flexible_.”

            Peter grunted and breathed out while he adjusted, “I know, you tell me every time we have sex.”

            Eddie chuckled, “Do I?”

            Peter gripped tightly onto the sheets when Eddie pushed into him, “Heh, yes, Eddie, you do.”

            “Oh.”

            Eddie groaned while Peter’s tight heat engulfed him, it felt so wonderfully right, they just . . . _fit_ , like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Eddie closed his eyes and set a slow, deep cadence, enjoying their closeness even as he felt a coil of pressure building in his guts. He knew he was doing well because Peter was quiet, focusing on his breathing and the sensations with his mouth slightly open and his eyes closed. Eddie took advantage and leaned forward to kiss Peter’s open mouth, pushing down deeper as he moved. Peter gasped slightly then moaned into Eddie’s mouth while the blonde’s tongue explored the space offered to it.

            Eddie pulled his mouth off of Peter’s for a moment then let his head loll back on his neck, gritting his teeth with the effort of keeping the pace nice and slow,

            “Hnnnnope! Sorry, Petey, I gotta hurry this along.” Eddie grunted and picked up the speed of his hips.

            Peter gasped then moaned, “Ah! E-Eddie, that’s _really good!_ ”

            Eddie smile widened and he plowed into Peter, making the headboard knock on the wall and that was the only sound either could make out above their heavy breathing and the slap of skin on skin. Eddie ground his teeth and felt the pressure building then-

            “Haagh!” Eddie thrust a few more times then collapsed, grinning when his chest and belly got stuck to Peter’s thanks to a film of cum on the brunette’s chest, “Feel less stressed?”

            “Mhm.” Peter smiled while he carded his fingers through Eddie’s hair, “Much better.”

* * *

            “Well . . . shit.” Eddie looked sadly down at the casserole as it smoked.

            Peter came back from opening several windows to air the place out and placate the smoke detectors, “Ah, sorry, love . . . “

            Eddie sighed heavily and turned to lean back on the counter, “Guess we could order a pizza instead.”

            “I’ll get my wallet.” Peter turned and left the kitchen.

            Eddie glanced at the charred remains of their would-be dinner, well . . . life wasn’t perfect for them, but he’d take the occasional burnt supper than the insanity that had been his life previously any day.

            “Love, do you mind supreme or would you rather have meat-lovers?” Peter called from the other room.

            “Supreme’s fine.” Eddie answered.

            “Okay!”

            Yep, it was just fine with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you ever so much and I'm glad you read it through to the end!


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